Son of Zakuul
by Sparkflight206
Summary: The last thing Vaylin remembered was dying. Cast 3000 years into the future, she interferes with destiny out of greed, but she gives an orphaned baby Luke a new life. Raised in the shadow of the Dark Side, Zakuul's new Prince will change his own fate with the might of the Eternal Empire at his command.
1. The Will of the Force

" _This isn't over. Even now, my daughter is a threat._ "

Hearing the spirit of Valkorion, Vaylin smirked, her eyes burning an even more furious fire colour with the dark power she dominated. "Oh Father, you know me so well."

Calling on all the dark power that lay in her being, she unleashed the Force in a malevolent storm of purple energy outward from her body, caring about the consequences as the same insane disregard she usually did. The ground began to shake, the earth rocked and the building was wracked by irreparable fractures and cracks that spread like wildfire from her feet and up the walls. She focused on nothing but pure, unhindered destruction. She had come too far to fall to her father's puppet.

Gazing skyward, she screamed, both at the Outlander and her mother and brother. "THE ETERNAL THRONE IS MINE!"

The Outlander fought their way through the dark storm, managing a reply over the turbulence she had created in the room that she was the pinnacle of. "This isn't about the throne. It's about stopping you."

Before she knew what was happening, a burning agony ripped through her lower torso, beneath her bosom. A blazing lightsaber had been driven through her chest, exiting her back with next to no resistance. Her power exploded outward in forceful blast, hurling the Outlander away the instant after they extinguished their saber. Then the Force deserted her, taking away her unchained strength.

Shaking, her hands pressed against the hole through her torso as she swayed on her feet, disbelief at her own fast approaching death painted on her face as she gazed at the mortal wound. She fell, only for her hated mother's arms to wrap around her, cradling her close as tears ran down the older woman's face.

"I'm so sorry Vaylin."

Was she really? Or were these just soft words to try to worm her way back into her heart? In all honesty, Vaylin didn't know. She just wanted the pain to stop. Where was the hot, all-devouring fire of the Force? Why had it deserted her?

"You abandoned me…"

Her heartbeat began to ebb slightly.

"I never meant to abandon you. Hurt you."

Arcann knelt next to them, only the unconditional love and kindness she'd known when they children in his tortured, repentant cerulean eyes. Then she'd been locked away on Nathema, and forgotten it. Until now. "Vaylin, Father can't touch you any longer. You can be free. Just let your pain go. Forgive yourself."

"You say that as if it were easy." She coughed, bloody breaths wracking her body, and Senya shifted her closer.

Breath came slower, and more agonisingly. Her blood flow was reducing in rate.

Her brother pulled back her hood, unveiling her once blonde, now brown hair. Then she felt his touch, warm and full, his right hand caressed her cheek. She couldn't remember the last time he'd touched her, skin to skin.

"It's the hardest thing in this life."

Here he was, her brother Arcann, humbled and remorseful, and all because of their mother and whatever she did to change him. But she did not know, yet… liked… this new person behind the scarred face, how he knew just what to say, how he understood and loved her, and held no disdain or rejection for her. She wanted it, more of that kindness, she wanted to feel it in a way so deep that she could never lose sight of it. She wanted to be like him, more than ever, to _feel_ that connection with people. With him. But she wasn't deserving. She didn't want it! She didn't need it!

The beating of her tortured heart was rapidly degenerating, sluggish and erratic. Then it sped up for the next few moments, unstable and uncontrollable.

Blood trickled from her mouth, down her chin as a coughing fit overcame her, and she forced out two desperate words, once again the little girl full of suffering as she convulsed in her mother's arms, the seizure beyond any restraint.

" _... Get away…_ "

He took her hand, flesh on flesh, and held it close to his scarred face. "It's alright Vaylin, you're safe. You're loved."

"We'll never let you go again." Senya promised her as her brother's lips touched her hand.

Her heart returned to a murderously slow but irregular crawl. Her end drew near.

The last of her life was bleeding away from her, she knew it too. The fiery light of darkness in her eyes faded, and her own tearful cerulean eyes saw the galaxy for the first time since Nathema. Then, as she lay in her mother's arms, her hand held by her brother, she saw him.

Dressed in his black and gold trimmed trappings of Zakuul, the same love he'd always had for her clear in his blue eyes, Thexan stood behind Arcann, seemingly wrapped in an aura of yellow light. Her left hand, free and laying on the floor, lifted with all the strength she had in her now weak body, and she reached for him, like the blonde little girl who'd reached for her brother.

" _Thexan…_ "

The contractions of her heart was almost nonexistent.

"He's waiting for us, he'll take you home." Her mother told her gently, stroking her hair.

Thexan smiled, and reached out, their fingertips touching. Just a little further…

Her heartbeat stilled, ceasing entirely. She was gone. Her free hand hit the ground with a small, hollow thud, and her clutching grasp on that of her brother fell slack. Her eyes were glazed over, motionless.

Vaylin was once and truly dead.

"May Izax have mercy on your soul." Senya whispered, holding her dead daughter as close as she could.

Arcann didn't fight the tears that came, and cradled her hand to his chest. "I love you Vaylin. Farewell."

Then the Force came rushing back into her, lighting up every nerve ending, every cell of her body with an excruciating agony, as if all the lightning she'd produced in her life had been turned back on her all at once. She writhed once more, pure Force energy converging on her, as if the supernatural force was wrapping her in its embrace, forcing her heart to start, and beat once more. But her family wouldn't let go of her. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to get off her, but she couldn't form a single cognitive thought, even if she had wanted to do so.

In a flash of energy, she was ripped from her mother's arms, torn from her brother's hand and hurled through the energy conduit of the universe. Before she even knew what was happening, she was face down in soft, loose dirt, bombarded by hellish heat and tasting black earth.

With all the strength she could muster, she rolled onto her back, and shuddered her head to look down.

The hole caused the Outlander's lightsaber was still there, but she was resisting the pull of death now, if barely, clinging to life by the most fragile of threads. Her absolute fear of dying, of losing who she was once again, and her pain, that had reached the deepest of depths, was keeping her alive, keeping her from succumbing to the mortal wound as she lay in the ash-smelling earth, on the brink of death. Her hand crawled up from the dirt, pressing against the wound.

Looking up as she clutched the stab wound, she found herself on a volcanic world, the skies obscured by a huge cloud of black ash that dominated the planet. This was a hellish place.

Then she heard the sound of lightsaber combat, blade upon blade.

Dragging her almost useless body to the ridge with one hand, she looked out over the lake of lava, she saw two blue blades clashing. One of the wielders was entrenched in the Light, and the other was seeped in the Dark, some small light left inside. As the hovering platform passed the bank where she lay just behind the rise in her excruciating state, just out of sight, the man of Light leapt to the shore, landing several metres away from her, not knowing she was the other side of the hill, watching. He called out to the other.

"It's over Anakin! I have the high ground!"

"You underestimate my power!" The blonde man, called Anakin, declared in a voice dripping with rage and hate. The man in light robes realised what he was going to do as she did, and tried to warn him off.

"Don't try it."

Anakin leapt high, lightsaber in hand as he disregarded the warning, and a blue blade swung fast and strong.

He tumbled down the incline, left arm and both legs severed by the other's single, resigned stroke. He came to rest on his front, not far from the edge of the lava lake. The man of Light extinguished his weapon, and she felt grief and betrayal from him. The dismembered man's eyes burned like her's had until now, and the sorrowful victor let out his emotions.

"You were the Chosen One! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

He turned and went up the hill, picking up Anakin's dropped weapon as he paused and turned back. He gazed into the eyes of the man consumed by the Dark Side, and received what was surely a verbal blow to the gut.

"I HATE YOU!"

As the one limbed man tried and failed to drag himself up the hill, the earth she'd landed face first in and tasted slipped between his fingers, denying him the purchase he sought.

"You were my brother Anakin!" The bearded man told him, the pain evident in his voice as he cried out. "I loved you."

The man called Anakin screamed as his torn clothes caught fire from the proximity to the lava, and the one who called him 'brother' looked away, having seen more than he could bear already. The defeated Sith was set ablaze entirely, his hair incinerating, his skin burning and his flesh melting. To her, it was disturbing yet morbidly fascinating to behold. She'd never watched a man burn.

The man who now carried two lightsabers, one in each hand, hurried from the bank, and did not sense her as he climbed the hill. Unseen by him, she rolled down the hill when she slipped, but stopped short of the burning Sith. He was still alive, mutilated but alive. She touches his burnt head, unnoticed by him. And the only thing in his mind was… revenge, for the Jedi turning his pregnant wife on him.

The Jedi put the two weapons on his belt and traveled and climbed back up to landing pad that adjourned what used to be a mining facility by the looks as she followed him, unnoticed. He was greeted by two droids, a white, blue and silver astromech and a golden protocol droid. Boarding the silver ship there, he checked on a clearly pregnant woman, who asked if the Sith was alright, but didn't get an answer.

The man, now clearly a Jedi, went to the cockpit to fly the ship, and Vaylin concealed herself in a closet, her dark signature in the Force more or less a void due to her being almost empty of the energy that bound the universe together.

' _I've survived worse tortures than this._ ' She thought to herself, calling what she could of the Force to hold off her end. Mental tortures, she had been to the depths of despair, beyond even Arcann or her mother. This was her worst physical wound however, but she wouldn't allow herself to succumb, she feared the end too much.

She'd spare the woman the knowledge that this Obi Wan as she'd called him had relieved Anakin of his legs and non prosthetic arm. As much as she enjoyed cruelty, she couldn't reveal herself before she healed. It was her belief that, once healed, she would regain her power.

* * *

They arrived at a moon called Polis Masa, she overheard the name from the protocol droid, and the pregnant woman was taken to immediate attention.

Dragging her all but dead body off the ship, was immediately found and given medical attention that she so desperately desired. Her body was stripped to her undergarments and submerged in a bacta tank, one of incredible potency. Between the Force and the substance that had apparently replaced kolto, if her spirit were in her body she would literally feel her wound knitting back together, cell by cell, her body regenerated instead of producing scar tissue. However it had drifted out.

She walked on the plane of the Force, and approaching the surgery room she gazed in to see the pregnant woman was giving early birth that had been induced. She could feel the woman's life being sapped out of her from afar, across the galaxy. She could see the children. Twins, a boy and a girl, and they were both strong with the Force, incredibly so, but it was lessened by them being premature by 2 months. Within moments, their mother was dead from her life being drained from her, and they were orphaned, the man who she was certain was their father being dismembered and had burned on the volcanic world.

She reached further, and touched the children. Their connections to the Force were unbelievable!

Focusing on the twins, she knew what she felt. She wanted one of those children. And as her reign as Empress had shown for the most part, Vaylin got what she wanted, one way or another.

She took advantage of the overbearing dark state of the Force, she walked close to the Jedi once more, this time observing the conversation this Obi Wan had with a green alien Jedi called Yoda, and a Republic Senator named Bail Organa. The boy would be taken to his family on Tatooine, a desert planet in the Outer Rim if she remembered correctly, and the girl would be adopted by this Bail man, and taken to Alderaan, a political world that was among the first to be subjugated under her brother's 5 year tenure as Emperor.

She retreated back to her healing body, seeing it from the outside. She would take the boy, he would be easier to get to. She smiled in her astral body, the fire of the Dark Side returning to her eyes, a new thought in her mind now. ' _I always wanted a son for an heir._ '

Committing the baby boy's signature to memory, she focused on healing, drawing on the Light Side as she rarely did. She only used it to heal herself and control her power. The Dark Side served all her other needs.

* * *

She emerged, fully healed without a mark, from the tank a week later, dressed herself, mended the damage to her clothing with the Force, and forcibly took a shuttle. The moment she had the ship, she headed straight for Tatooine, no stops, no delays. She called the energy of the Force inside herself, refilling her strength as a way to pass the journey through hyperspace. The travel took a couple of hours, and her eyes came to rest upon the dustball of a planet.

She sneered at it, and landed where she felt the purest part of the Force on this tainted world, that being fairly far away from the nearest civilization, a moisture farm. It was night when she reached the homestead, and she found a Skyhopper in the garage.

Tearing out the fuel tank with the Force, she ruptured it, soaking everything but herself in the flammable liquid. The slick substance parted around her feet, a clean path upon which she walked.

She found a man with a blaster protecting a cowering woman who held the crying infant she sought. Her burning eyes pierced his as she disregarded the meager weapon pointed at her, he couldn't hurt her even if he pulled the trigger and his aim was true. She had enough of her substantial power to defend herself.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" He demanded.

"I am Vaylin, Empress of Zakuul, and you have something that belongs to me. The boy is mine, now give him to me!"

"I won't let you have Jinn!"

His cry was followed by him pulling the trigger at the same time as she raised her open hand. The Force responded to her will, seizing the bolt of red energy a foot from her chest as she glared at him as if he was stupid, which he was to attack her. With a wave of her hand, she tossed him aside and slipped past the bolt, advancing on the woman.

Her fingers twitched and the woman released the baby to clutch at her throat. Vaylin floated the greatly premature Jinn into her arms and she cradled him properly, releasing the woman whom she was choking but keeping the blaster bolt frozen in place.

She turned on her heel and walked away at a leisurely pace, marveling at how comfortable he was with her, little Jinn had stopped crying the moment she took hold of him. The slick fuel continued to part for her to walk, sloshing back to how it was after her like she'd never been there as she climbed the steps. She looked back at the terrified couple who regarded her fearfully, and she smirked wickedly back at them.

"A man who causes the death of himself and his family is no man at all."

With that, she released the blaster bolt, and it flew, striking the fuel-covered wall, setting the whole homestead ablaze in an inferno that took only a second to engulf it all. Vaylin walked away from the burning ruin, both her and the sleeping Jinn's faces illuminated by the orange light that was matched by her burning eyes beneath her hood.

"Onward, to Zakuul, to the Eternal Throne that is rightfully mine."

* * *

Feeling the disturbance in the Force that screamed out to him, voices screaming as flames consumed them, Obi Wan summoned his lightsaber and rushed out of his residence, mounting the speeder he had brought and going at full speed to Owen and Beru's moisture farm. However, as he draw near, he knew he was too late.

The whole homestead was burning, the flames were tall and smelled of speeder fuel. The couple were long dead by now, he had failed them. Jinn was here a week and he'd already been taken.

The presence of the Dark Side was here too, but not that of Anakin or Palpatine. No, this was something not seen in thousands of years, something far more potent.

"Forgive me Master Yoda, I've failed to protect the boy."


	2. The Eternal Throne

As she approached the summit of the rocky outcrop in the desert, she looked down at the baby in her arms, her little boy, who would now become the Prince of Zakuul. She already felt a connection to this child, as if he was her blood. And even that, he would become.

Shifting the premature infant into one arm, she raised the other, firing a precise, constant bolt of lightning from her fingers, carving a blood ritual altar into the dark brown rock. It took the shape of a pentagram within a circle, formed of inch-deep scored lines in the rock, perfectly forged forever into the dark sandstone of the desert. She placed him gently in the centre of the pentagram.

Summoning a rock, she applied pressure with the Force, shattering it into sharp shards. Taking the largest, she held it in her hand. Slicing open her palm, she allowed her powerful blood to drop into the Dark Side carving, and cried out in the language of the Force.

" _Vezmite toto diét'a, ktoré sa narodilo príliš skoro, a dokončil ho oj mne! Nech moju bytosť pohltí z jeho matky, zrod ho ako moju krv!_ "

Her blood became electrified with purple lightning that erupted from her fingertips and flowed through the altar she'd made, into the premature baby. It evaporated into a bloody mist that wrapped around him, compressed into sphere around him, then smashing into her stomach slipping through with the baby and leaving her gasping for breath as her body changed to accommodate the infant, and his genes inherited from his mother were replaced by her own, making him her blood.

Once her young body has finished changing to accommodate the infant, she found herself now 7 months pregnant, taking over where he had been born too soon. He was hers now.

"Our future awaits, my son." She told him with a dark glee.

* * *

Her stolen ship came out of hyperspace to be greeted by the sight of the Eternal Fleet. With a wicked grin, Vaylin found herself pleased that Zakuul still stood. A fifth of her amazingly fast power had returned in the days it had taken to reach Wild Space, where the prosperous world existed outside the galaxy's knowledge. Now she could take whatever usurper there was off the Eternal Throne with ease, and reclaim her seat of power. Putting through the executive code she possessed as the Empress, she bypassed the fleet, slipping past the warships controlled by the GEMINI units.

She docked with the Spire.

The doors opened, and she threw the Knights of Zakuul who guarded them against the walls with the Force, knocking them out. No need to kill those who would soon serve her. She advanced though the Spire's defenses, which hadn't changed in the 3000 years since she had ruled, only temporarily disabling any Knights, but crushing the Skytroopers entirely. They were machines, manufactured in massive amounts for numbers, there were not living. They could be replaced.

Opening the doors to the Throne Room with a twitch of her fingers, she stalked along the walkway, standing before the twin lines of Knights, addressing the man on the Eternal Throne. "I want my Empire back."

"And you are?" He inquired lazily, as if she was some peasant.

"Empress Vaylin of the Eternal Empire, formerly High Justice, daughter of the Immortal Emperor Valkorion."

He waved his hand dismissively, signalling the Knights. "I doubt it. Remove her."

Cackling at his foolishness, she powerfully intoned the trigger phrase that had once controlled her, forcing the armoured figures to their knees with her raw power.

"Kneel before the Dragon of Zakuul!"

The lazy Emperor rose to his feet in absolute shock that she could subjugate the Knights of Zakuul with mere words and such power. He shook himself from his stupor and drew a yellow bladed lightsaber, crying, "For Zakuul!"

Striding to meet his charge, she hit him a weak Force blast, sending him tumbling past her as she mounted the dais and turned back to face him.

"I _am_ Zakuul, and Zakuul is me. The Eternal Empire belongs to me, it's time I take it back." She sneered.

She raised her hand and unleashed a furious and continuous river of violent purple Force Lightning upon the usurper, relishing in his absolutely agonised screams as she overloaded his brain and heart simultaneously, killing him, his flesh being melted and his clothes and hair burned. He collapsed and she disregarded the corpse, allowing the Knights to rise from their knees and activating the planet-wide hologram broadcast.

"People of Zakuul. I am Vaylin, former High Justice and Empress of Zakuul, and today I reclaim the Eternal Throne after 3 millennia. Your now former Emperor has retired, and now I return to rule our great society as it should be ruled. You will be safe, you will be protected, this is my vow to you, the people. Long live Zakuul!"

She shut off the broadcast and smiled as ordered the stolen ship destroyed. She'd channeled Arcann's silver tongue with that speech. He had a way with words.

Briefly reacquainting herself with the Throne Room, she sat down on the seat of power, feeling it connect with her, dismissing the Knights. She had returned. Satisfied with her position, she gazed down at the baby inside her. He was shifting within her.

"Hello little one." She cooed at him, getting a happy but gentle kick in return. "Aren't you precious?"

Laying a hand on her stomach, she closed her eyes with a genuine, happy smile.

Then she heard a voice.

" _Vaylin…_ "

She knew that voice. Thexan, her brother. She answered. "Thexan?"

A light shone across her eyelids, and she opened them to see the same astral version of her brother that she had prior to her death. " _You're home, little sister. You're safe now._ "

"Was all this your doing?" She inquired.

" _It is the will of the Force, not my own that delivered you to this time after your death. I have limited power in the galaxy so long as I anchor myself here, but I can only appear before a select few at this time. You are the only one I can reach at the moment, my spirit has been tied to the kyber crystal in my lightsaber since the day I departed my physical body. However, I am not the only one to have remained in wait._ "

"Who else?"

" _Mother became a Force Ghost like myself and sealed her astral essence inside a holocron she created that now reside in the Royal Vault. I stayed awake all these centuries, to see your return. She has slept, waiting for you as I have._ "

She didn't know how to respond to that. He spoke again.

" _I can show you how to release her, so that you can…_ "

"No!" She screamed at her long dead brother, silencing him with her vehement response. "I don't ever want to see her again! She betrayed me!"

" _She didn't betray you Vaylin, you betrayed yourself. You threw yourself into the darkness and allowed it to twist your mind until now… you have become everything Father ever desired you to be but_ obedient. _You never obeyed him unless it suited you. You followed Arcann out of what little loyalty you could muster, solely because he brought you out of Nathema. Did you never stop to realise that he too drowned in the void of the Force there, his sanity was poisoned and he lost his ability for tolerance in that place? You are not the only member of this family to suffer._ "

"SHUT UP!" Vaylin screamed once more, this time hurling lightning at him as she surged from the Throne. It struck his astral form and became absorbed into him. The yellow glow around him intensified, and he became _far_ more powerful in appearance.

Resignation filled his blue eyes. " _And so… it is time for a lesson._ "

Her next blast of lightning streaked across the dais and Thexan caught it with his hand, absorbing it. She hurled more bolts at him with a fury unlike any other, and he absorbed them all.

With a howl of rage, Vaylin ignited her lightsaber and swung it at him, but he held up his open left hand, stopping the yellow blade inches from it. He'd frozen her in place. He locked eyes slowly with her and without a single warning, her weapon deactivated. His right hand rose and then descended slowly. Against her will, the Empress found herself lowering to her knees, hands planted on the floor as he brought her to it. He had forced her to kneel before him.

" _Now do you understand? In death I have become more powerful than you can imagine. I am a part of the Living Force now, and my power comes to me from it. My strength now surpasses yours, my sister._ "

Crouching next to her, Thexan tilted her chin so that she was looking at him.

" _Your strength has waned Vaylin. Returning from death out of fear of it, suffering the fatal wound for hours so to heal your body, exerting your powers to perform heinous murder, taking the baby into yourself to make him yours out of greed and jealousy. The Force is almost entirely diverted to the child inside you, replacing his old mother's genetics in him with yours, changing his body's very being. In doing all this, you have made yourself so vulnerable that I, a spirit of the Netherworld of the Force, can subdue you with ease._ " He told her just as calmly as ever.

Glancing down at the deactivated lightsaber in her hand, he gave a sigh of lament. " _Your lightsaber betrays you because it was forged by me. Arcann rescued you, but I armed you. My mistake._ "

Vaylin felt a sharp impact from the inside of her now occupied womb, then a tightening feeling in her abdomen, and they had taken her by surprise to say the least. She dropped to the ground, subconsciously curling up. She didn't even realise Thexan had released her. She only noticed when he laid his hand on her upper arm in a gesture of comfort.

Checking she was alright, the Force Ghost stretched out with the Force, closing his eyes and focusing, finding himself at the equator between rage and serenity. He reached out with his hand, and feeling the connection he sought, made the motion of accessing a computer terminal. Feeling it had been done, he disconnected from the technology on the other end, connected with something, _someone_ this time.

A moment of silence passed.

With a violent hiss, the blade of the young Empress's lightsaber spat from the hilt, impaling Thexan through the centre of his torso as her eyes blazed with the fire of darkness. He felt no pain from it, but his form lost corporeality. She extinguished it, rising to her feet, left hand pressed to her abdomen.

"And so you have betrayed me, brother." She whispered, but with a hint of sadness in her voice that was seeped with venom.

She raised the unignited weapon, but before she could activate it to strike at him again, it was ripped from her grasp and flew into a hand that clamped around it in a fist. She turned to face the intruder, and saw the hand that held her weapon from her.

The metal, cybernetic hand.

"I'm sorry Vaylin."

She opened her mouth to reply, but the black claimed her before she could speak as Thexan used the Force to make her pass out. He telekinetically lowered her to the ground gently, then looked up.

" _Arcann._ "

The scarred man clad in white looked the same as the day Vaylin had died and vanished. That was due to the actions he had taken following her death. He had aided the Outlander in banishing Valkorion's spirit, than submitted himself to the carbonite chamber, where he'd slept, dormant, for 3000 years. So more or less, he was in the same state as when their sister had perished, for he had been frozen the very same day, no time for rest or recuperation.

"Thexan." Arcann acknowledged, hooking the confiscated lightsaber to the back of his belt as he approached. "It has been… so long and my path has been so dark since I last saw your face, my brother. Darker than I ever dreamed it could be. It still haunts me."

He knelt beside their unconscious sister. "To see her like this again… tears at my heart."

" _At least she is not dead, whatever small mercy that may be._ " Thexan replied.

"Before she died, Vaylin renounced the Dark Side, so why does it reside in her now?"

" _The Force abandoned her momentarily, she didn't renounce it. She is the same now as she always has been since Nathema, lost, blind._ "

Resolute, Arcann lifted the youngest of them up in his arms, carrying the 23 year old woman with some effort due to his exhausted state to the bedchamber where she had resided 3000 years ago. As they walked, the Force Ghost twin noticed the unconscious Knights, the ones Vaylin had dismissed, and the pikes and shields strewn across the floor.

" _You didn't even draw your weapon did you?_ "

"There… was no need. You would be surprised at the advantages a cybernetic arm grants." He replied. "That and the Force is weapon enough."

Laying the once-again Empress down on her bed as she swifted in her sleep, the white clad warrior stood at the foot of the bed, wrapping both lightsabers on his belt loosely in the Force, to prevent them being called from his possession. Thexan left briefly.

* * *

Vaylin jolted awake with a rapid intake of breath. The moment her vision focused, she saw Arcann, exactly as she'd seen him not two weeks ago for her, in reality 3000 years. His eyes were the same.

Then she noticed the object in his hands. A small cube that had windows in it, emitting yellow light from within, and was created with the Force in balance. It was little bigger than a child's ball and held a despicably familiar presence within it. Her mother's holocron, she realised. The instant she regained her voice, she snapped at her living brother. "Unlock that holocron and I will make your death agony beyond imagining!"

"There is no pain you could ever cause that I haven't already endured." He returned solemnly. His pain-wracked blue eyes struck something inside her.

Then he called in the Force and unlocked the holocron, the corners detaching and floating as a bright yellow light shone from it, releasing the Force Ghost within, completely disregarding her threat. Senya Tirall formed in an astral body like Thexan's, and immediately cast her gaze up her.

" _Hello Vaylin._ "

"Mother!" Vaylin hissed. She immediately tried to summon lightning, but it wouldn't come. Not even a spark.

The former elite Knight of Zakuul offered her advice. " _Don't try to use the Force Vaylin, it's very trying during pregnancy, and especially yours. Your body has automatically shut off your conscious command of it so to stop your overexerting yourself and risking your child._ "

"Go away!"

" _I have made many mistakes in my life, my greatest being how I tried to raise you. I was too strict, then too lenient. Don't make my errors, treasure your child in every aspect, don't stifle them, keep them safe. I failed you in all 3 of those respects, I saw your power as a danger, I tried to keep your from using it, and I failed to keep you safe… from everything. You can hate me if you choose, but know that I always have and always will love you Vaylin, no matter what you've done, what you've become._ "

For some reason, that left the psychotic Empress silent. She didn't know why, but those words brought her some sort of warm feeling, and it wasn't the sadistic pleasure she was so familiar with.

Thexan came to stand alongside Senya. " _Peace is born from compassion, knowledge comes from the overcoming of ignorance, harmony is born from chaos, there is no death, there is only the Force. We will go, if that is your wish, but beware the path you walk, for alone you will fall._ "

Senya returned to her holocron, and Thexan faded from sight, vanishing. Arcann remained however, standing where he did. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, moving towards him as he stepped back, wrapping the two lightsabers loosely in the Force to prevent her from taking them. She stopped right in front of him, the holocron forgotten for now.

"How are you even still alive? And why emerge now?" She demanded, looking up the head's worth of height difference between them. Her burning eyes contrasted his remorseful blue ones.

He replied with a saddened, penitent tone as he looked down at the ground.

"I had a vision that you lived once more in this time prior to the battle with Father in the Outlander, so I had the Commander freeze me in carbonite. But, before I entered the freeze, Thexan appeared to me and told me he would awaken me when it was time. I have lain dormant all this time for one, singular purpose."

Vaylin stepped closer, barely a foot between them now.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer. Her anger flared and she slapped Arcann across the face with considerable force as she demanded once more the answer she sought. "What?!"

He brought his gaze to bear on her fiery eyes and finally answered in a broken voice.

"To protect you, as I should have before, and failed to. And to that end…"

He sank down on one knee, taking her lightsaber in his hands and presenting it to her, his head bowed. The action seemed to tear up and eviscerate what little pride and self-respect he still possessed, and he finished his declaration.

"... I… will serve you… and your son… until my end of days."


	3. Luke

" _It's alright Vaylin, you're nearly there._ "

Eyes screwed shut and mouth wide, wracked with cries of agony, Vaylin screamed furiously at her dead brother. "SHUT! UP THEXAN! IF YOU WEREN'T ALREADY DEAD, I'D RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"

All around her, the metal walls of the room buckled and groaned under her rampant power of the Force, droids were crushed to scrap, glass shattering and the very air electrified. The only things left untouched in the room were Arcann, a single medical droid and Vaylin herself. The remaining droid had been shielded by the scarred warrior, who had shielded himself also. His cybernetic hand grasped her left one to give her something to grip.

According to the droid, she was doing well considering that she had allowed no drugs to assist with the delivery or lessened the pain. From the pain she gained strength. As the moment for the final push approached, her grip tightened on the metal hand. The droid gave the go-ahead, and she gave one last, excruciating push, crushing Arcann's cybernetic hand in the process with physical strength alone. But, the agony of the whole ordeal was well worth it in her mind.

The young Empress was rewarded with a sharp cry as _her_ son began to breath on his own, and the droid cleaned him swiftly and efficiently. Once cleaned, he was wrapped in a gold trimmed black blanket and placed in her arms. 1 month and 3 weeks, all worth it.

Her fiery eyes raced hungrily over his adorable little form, all his perfect imperfections, every little detail, committing it to her memory, burning it into her mind with the Force. Then she saw his little eyelids peek open as he stopped crying, and a shard of perfect, brilliant blue was revealed, with depths of newborn curiosity vaster than the oceans of Manaan.

It was in that very that she fell in love with _her_ baby.

And, for the first time in her life, she _knew_ , truly _knew_ , what it was to unconditionally love something other than herself. Planting a truly affectionate kiss on his little forehead, Vaylin smiled and cradled him close. Silence filled the room, and she laid back, closing her eyes.

"My son, my Luke."

* * *

When she felt strong enough, Vaylin left the somewhat destroyed medical facility in the Spire and returned to the Throne Room for the first time in days and slowly walked the path that led to the dais, standing upon it. Using the Force freely now, she activated the planetary hologram that would link her image to every civilised place with a holoprojector on the planet. As she waited a short period of few seconds for the uplink, she shifted Luke in her arms to ensure his comfort. He was sleeping peacefully.

The broadcast started mere moments after Arcann stood behind her to her right, hands clasped behind his back. Then, she spoke.

"Zakuul, today I present you with your newborn Prince. As of this moment, I declare my son, Luke, the heir to Eternal Throne. And, I now degree the Council of Elders disbanded and unnecessary, our great society has no need of conflicting government. I thank you for your time, that will be all."

She cut the transmission and sat down on the Throne, smiling as Luke stirred in her arms, blinking sleepily as he awoke. Freeing his arms of his blanket with infantile excitement, he reached for her face whilst letting out an adorable squeal. Lifting him up to her eye level, she let him capture her dark brown hair where it had slipped out of her hood that usually kept it back and hidden. His little fingers slipped through it easily, and he seemed to love the sensation it created.

Sensing Arcann watching, she resisted the sadistic urge to unleash a deluge of lightning on him, quelling it by focusing on her joyful son. She wouldn't traumatise him for her own desires, he was far too innocent and precious to her.

Innocence. That was something she had never before considered when it came to her dark and deranged choices. Why did her son's very presence inspire such mercy in her?

Then she realised, it was because he was her son that she now hesitated. Her own flesh and blood, with whom she now felt a mental connection, she knew his infantile thoughts, felt his somewhat basic emotions. How he liked the silky feel of her hair, to fall asleep to her calm heartbeat, the warmth of her embrace. She's lost much in Nathema, a great deal of who she was. It was almost as if he was giving her that back. Perhaps he was.

A very light tug on her hair brought her back to the present moment, where Luke was pulling her hair slightly. Shifting him to rest in the crook of her left arm, Vaylin caught his little hand between her thumb and forefinger, gently rubbing them back and forth in a rolling motion that caused him to relinquish her hair.

"Curious, aren't you?"

He gurgled happily and curled up against her chest. But she sensed a shift in his temperament across their bond. Sending an echo of the Force through him, she discovered he was hungry. He started bawling. Well, she wasn't prepared for this. She had no idea what to do. Apparently the Force had a sense of humour.

"Arcann." She forced herself to voice her request, no matter how much she disliked it. "Do you still have Mother's holocron with you?"

In response, he produced it. A river of hatred ran through her soul, which she shielded from Luke, and she spoke again. "Release her."

He did as she commanded, and Senya manifested her astral body.

"Mother." She growled.

" _Vaylin._ "

"I… need your help." Vaylin forced it out. Her mother immediately caught on and instructed her on how to feed her infantile son. Within minutes, Luke was content again, and snuggled back into his blanket to go to sleep, so she wrapped him up in once more and rested him against her chest, his little head over her heart.

" _So this is the grandson who caused such a change in you._ " The Force Ghost remarked. " _He's adorable._ "

The fire in Vaylin's eyes burned brighter and she snapped quietly. "He's _mine._ "

" _Keep him safe Vaylin, you need him more than you know._ "

With that, Arcann used the holocron and locked their mother's spirit away once more, tucking the device away. An alert pulsed quietly from the controls on the Throne, and she acknowledged it, calling in the reformed Horizon Guard straight after.

"Arcann, go to the armoury and acquire the armour that has been designed for you."

Hearing the command and seeing the Horizon Guard, he bowed his head respectfully and obeyed, making directly for the armoury. He passed the Knights with no resistance and traversed the building with memorable ease, entering it mere minutes later. Upon seeing the armour, he froze, unbidden and unwanted memories washing over him. Years of tormenting the galaxy, tyrannical whims and twisted actions.

' _Vaylin has always known how to torment me, but this is a new level entirely._ ' He lamented.

The armour was almost identical to his previous one, but had key changes. The new arm was upgraded to the maximum, and had orange light shining from beneath the armour instead of blue, the guard on its shoulder was more maneuverable but better armoured, there was a neck armour that accompanied it. The robes were black and medium grey, quite similar to Thexan's, and the helmet covered all but a third of his face, part of that being his right eye. The familiar orange lense was there too. It wasn't just combat armour, it was the attire of an executioner.

Reluctantly, he submitted to the droids for them to assist him in putting it on. It wasn't… uncomfortable, but he disliked the appearance. But he had pledged his service, and he wouldn't forsake his sister or his honour.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vaylin reflected on how Zakuul had stood for 3000 years.

It had taken almost a thousand years for the Outlander's bloodline to be influenced enough by blind fools to install a council of advisors, which was all they had been initially. But over the next 2000 years, they gained miniscule scraps of power until they could essentially tie a sovereign ruler's hands if said ruler was too slow to act. She had dissolved them before they could plot against her.

The society had changed the most however. At some point, she and Arcann had been erased from the history records, however Valkorion had remained as the founder and above all, the Immortal Emperor, Lord, Protector and Master of Zakuul. That irked her, but it was also fortunate. The records stated he had 3 children, but not their names nor anything else. This 'new' Zakuul was stronger, didn't need to be sheltered, and could stand on its own. It had adjusted to her seizing the Throne with minimal disruptions so far.

The Knights has been swiftly brought up to the standards of old by Arcann's disciplined but thorough training. He'd then selected the 45 most skilled among them and taken them on personally following whipping the entire army of Zakuul into shape, teaching them the advanced skills that had made her previous iteration of the Horizon Guard so formidable. They were required to advance to specialist standing in one of the 7 Forms and have a deeper understanding and command of the Force than the regular Knights, which he had instilled in them. The Captain herself was a specialist in Form VI, Niman. Her brother had worked tirelessly to recreate the Horizon Guard at her order, spending his every available moment for over a month training them. And, they were completely loyal to her and her alone.

The Zakuul military had been her focus, she'd been building up officers and soldiers, maximising Skytrooper and Eternal Fleet vessel production as well as more Gemini Captain Droids. Of course this was all done quietly and subtly, so that the public wasn't alarmed. Gemini Prime was absolutely secure, on planet and locked down.

A rattling jolted her from her contemplation.

Her lightsaber was hovering before her, and the shields of the Knights and lightsabers of the Horizon Guard were shaking, much to their owners' panic. But she wasn't the one doing it, her power was in check. So the only culprit could be…

Luke was wide awake in her arms not even heeding the unrest he was causing. He was focused on her lightsaber, the shields and other weapons were unintended as far as she could tell. He didn't seem to be consciously controlling the Force, it was simply… responding to his curiosity toward her unignited weapon.

Should she suppress him? No, better to let him be, she decided. Merely hours old, he was already displaying the Force. Then again, he'd periodically managed to levitate furniture whilst still within her, so this wasn't so surprising. He was similar to her at his age, and if he continued this progression, he'd soon be tearing apart droids and objects. She exercised her own power so to still all objects but her lightsaber, and disconnected the power cell from the emitter matrix in order to prevent the blade from activating. Then, she let her son have his way.

* * *

"You'll never get away with this!" The former Emperor's wife yelled at her. "We won't let you!"

Quickly checking if Luke was asleep, he was, Vaylin rose from the Eternal Throne and raised her one free hand. She paused for a moment, to savour the moment of cruelty she was permitted with her 2 week old child sleeping.

"I already have."

A blaze of purple electricity blasted from her fingertips and struck the defiant woman, killing her painfully and instantly. Turning away and taking Zakuul's Prince in both arms, she spoke again.

"Arcann, end their miserable lives."

"As you command, my sister." The cyborg former Emperor consented reluctantly and dutifully at the same time.

His yellow-bladed lightsaber hissed into life, striking terror into the former Royal Family as he slowly stalked towards them. 3 strokes later and the 3 new corpses hit the ground following the hiss that punctuated the deactivation of the weapon. The single blue eye regarded them regretfully for a moment, then he returned to stand beside the deadly Empress. With a dismissive wave, she ordered the bodies removed.

Once they were gone, the baby was placed in a hovercrib and the adults drew their lightsabers, circling each other on the dais. Yellow blades hissed into life, and Arcann took the Form V Djem So ready stance, holding the lightsaber above his head, angled back and down at an approximately 45° angle.

Vaylin defaulted to her flawed attempt at combining Form II Makashi and Form V Shien, weapon pointing at the floor by her back foot, which was her right. With a flare of rage, she shot forward at him, being her blade up to stab.

Arcann brought his blade down, knocking hers aside with his two handed grip easily and span on the ball of his foot, elbowing her in the back of the head. She stumbled, but immediately came at him again with a flurry of two handed blows. He met her, strike for strike, not once leaving an opening in his guard. When she spun and used what had become a repetitive and predictable move in her repertoire, a one handed horizontal slash, he deactivated his lightsaber, letting it pass by and catching her wrist with his mechanical hand.

Twisting her around, he forced her own right arm around her neck, kicked the back of one knee so that she buckled to the floor and stood on her left shoulder blade, effectively pinning and strangling her at the same time. Her blade went out.

"Makashi answered by Tràkata, that has always been your downfall Vaylin. You rely too much on the move to surprise and jolt your enemy, and you use it too often. It is too easy to bypass using a defensive iteration of Pass The Blade." He released her and helped her to her feet. "Your fighting style is too raw, it's unrefined, unbalanced, _undisciplined._ If you are to rule you must do so by example.

"Shien is meant to reflect continuous blaster fire back at the shooters, not combat a fellow duelist. You learned the Form variant that is appropriate for fighting blaster-equiped opponents, not lightsaber wielders." Arcann explained.

Vaylin sneered. "So what? I give up with a weapon?"

"No. Forget everything you think you know about fighting with lightsaber, and open your mind to me. I will teach you from the ground up. Now, ignite your blade."

Her yellow blade snarled hungrily from the hilt as his slid out with a vortex sound. Their eyes locked, and she mirrored the basic 'Ready' stance her brother took with contemptuous regard, recognising it as the first one she was taught by the Knights as a child.

He spoke a few words before he attacked.

"Remember the base katas taught to you by the Knights, use them and them alone. Zone 3, block!"

She brought the lightsaber across from the centre of her body to clash with the strike to her left side, deflecting it. He acknowledged it, grinding his blade up hers and bringing it the other side of her body. "Good. Zone 2!"

She inverted and repeated the action, blocking the slash at her right arm.

"Zone 1!"

His lightsaber bore down in a slash downward at her head, and she positioned her blade at a 90° angle parallel to his, bracing for the more powerful impact that came immediately, and she persevered through it, holding her block.

He span on his feet, slashing at her right shin.

"Zone 5!"

The moment she blocked it, he reversed direction, lashing out with a sweep to take her off her feet from the left. "Sai! Zone 6!"

Vaylin overleapt the sweep and parried the lightsaber swing that came with the second spin, Arcann resuming his Ready stance.

"Good, now faster. Zone 3! Zone 2! Zone 1! Zone 5! Sai! Zone 6!"

She countered each step of the attack kata with the defensive counterpart, gritting her teeth against the indignity of being taught by her brother, who was lesser than her, and whom she had once dominated in a duel. But back then, she had been using her Force powers, predominantly lightning.

"Faster again. 3! 2! 1! 5! Sai! 6!"

She repeated the steps, this time at the speed of an actual duel.

"Shun!"

The sudden change startled her for a moment, but she span at the same time as him, meeting his one handed slash with a two handed one that jarred them both.

"Falling Leaf!"

Holding her lightsaber parallel to her body, she rolled under the strike that came down from the sky, performing a 180° turn, referred to as Jung, without his instruction. Then they continued.

* * *

Luke giggled happily in her arms as Vaylin cradled him to her chest, enjoying the serenity of the Skytop Garden that was at the top of the palace. Arcann was within what he deemed a safe distance, in case of any potential attack, but out of sight and mind. She wasn't one for peaceful surroundings usually, but her precious son was bringing out traits in her that she lost long ago, kindness, tolerance, serenity, all because she loved him more than life itself.

Looking out over her Empire, that, in time, would once again be poised to become the greatest power in the galaxy under her control, she smiled, seeing a new side to it. Beauty in the peace.

"One day, this will all be yours Luke. But I hope that day doesn't come for quite some time, I'm not ready to give up the Throne just yet, my son. Nowhere near."

A memory she believed long lost washed over her for a moment.

" _I liked you better when you were dead." She jabbed at her mother, throwing a cycling unit torn from the roof of the Asylum dock to crush the older woman_

Then, another brief memory.

" _I wanted to save you!" Senya lamented, looking down at Arcann's motionless form._

" _Too late." Her own voice rang out across the destroyed flagship bridge. "You're always too late."_

Her burning eyes glowed brighter for a few seconds. ' _No, we won't be like that! I will never abandon my son the way Mother abandoned me! I won't control him like Father did me!_ "


	4. Hope is Thin

Obi Wan stepped down into the swamp of Dagobah from the ramp of the ship he had acquired over 2 months ago, feeling the cold wind given he'd left his brown cloak in the cockpit. His and Anakin's lightsabers hung on his belt, clinking slightly as his booted feet touched down into the mud, and he began venturing through the jungle. Sensing the light amongst the dark, he looked up to see Yoda in the doorway of a hut.

Doing as he was silently bid, the bearded Jedi Master entered the hut. The green Grandmaster sat on a stool, and the former General of the Republic sat down heavily.

"Deeply troubled, I sense you are, Obi Wan. Speak your troubles, listen will I."

"Master Yoda, I have failed in my mission. Within a week of delivering him to Owen and Beru Lars, Jinn was stolen away. His abductor left only fire and death in their wake, the Lars are one with the Force." He confessed, shame washing over him.

Yoda furrowed his brow, and spoke calmly. "All, I sense this is not."

"Indeed Master, I felt a truly dark presence in the wake of their deaths. The Dark Side was used to cause their demise, I'm sure of it, but it was not Palpatine, it was… from the distant past, an enemy thought vanquished millennia ago. I fear Leia may be in danger too."

"Hmm, disturbing this is. Grown in power, the Dark Side has. Cast over all, its darkness has. In the shadow of the Dark Side, young Jinn will grow, be consumed by it, he may. Thin, but not lost, hope is, for Senator Amidala's son. Protected, her daughter must be, a Jedi, she must become. Fight fire with fire, one cannot. To extinguish the flames of evil, the water of light must be poured upon it. If possible it is, save the boy we shall."

"Are we to go to Alderaan?" Obi Wan inquired.

"No, retreat to a vergence of the Force with the girl, we will. Take her to Nam Chorios, we shall, powerful is the Dark Side there, conceal us it will." Yoda instructed.

Swiftly gathering everything he would need with the Force, the small, green alien packed it in a bag which he handed to Obi Wan, then proceeded to hop onto his back. The two Jedi Masters departed the hut, and Yoda looked back at it.

"Miss this hut, I will. Homely, it was."

"We can get you another hut, Master Yoda."

"Indeed, but not the same shall it feel."

The pair boarded the ship and exited Dagobah, jumping to hyperspace for Alderaan to collect the young princess who would become a Jedi, never knowing, never suspecting that beyond the Outer Rim, out in Wild Space, there existed a force that would become poised to become the greatest power in the galaxy once more in mere years.

 **Timeskip - 4 Years**

"Where are you hiding?" Arcann intoned impatiently in his mechanically augmented voice, through his mask that made it seem more menacing and distant. He prowled the palace halls, sharply scanning for his target that remained elusive.

"You cannot hide forever Luke. Give yourself up, and your punishment will be more lenient."

"Never!" Came the cheekily joyful reply, and he caught the pattering of small feet behind him.

He whirled around to see the boy he sought running away from him. His right hand thrust forward, and the Force acted upon his will, seizing the errant 4 year old, raising him two feet off the ground as the Eternal Executioner stalked toward him, eyes narrowing, hand still outstretched. A low growl came from his throat as he moved along the corridors, levitating his runaway nephew the whole time. "I do not enjoy being forced to pursue you throughout the palace."

"But I don' wanna listen to the weird woman, she makes my head hurt! An' it's my birthday!"

"That doesn't mean you can run rampant in the corridors, taking advantage of the Knights' service to evade me and tripping the captains up. What will it be the next time, the Horizon Guard?"

"Spoilsport." Luke pouted, disliking being levitated. Feeling the presence of his sister, Arcann halted and waited for her to approach from behind.

Sure enough, the Eternal Empress' footsteps rang out a few moments later. As she took her son from his telekinetic grasp and into her physical one, she glared burningly at him with her fiery eyes.

"Clearly his tutor has failed to teach him, she is dismissed and will report to the Throne Room when I call for her to be there, I'll teach him myself." Vaylin commanded, settling the blonde boy on her hip. "Return to training the Knights, _this instant._ "

Unwilling to be on the receiving end of her lightning when Luke was asleep later, the Eternal Executioner bowed and walked away, back to the training grounds, where he had been called from by the boy's tutor, who had feared to inform Vaylin for dread of her wrath and chose instead to call the more merciful former Emperor via holocom. Satisfied that she had been obeyed, the Empress turned to her son and held him closer, her genuine smile that was reserved for him coming out as he laid his head happily on her shoulder.

"Let me guess, you didn't like your newest tutor?"

He murmured his confirmation into her neck as she walked to the speeder that she kept in reserve for occasions like this. Settling him in the passenger seat, she flew to the outskirts of the city, to the lush forest that had only grown since her childhood, millennia ago. Once they reached the outer wall of the city, she left the vehicle with the guards and took him in her arms again.

Entering the forest, she took him to their favourite clearing and laid him down on the grass. She pulled down her hood and joined him in looking up at the beautiful sky. Luke curled up to her side, snuggling close.

"Mommy."

"Yes?"

"Why don't I have a Daddy?"

"Your father was injured very badly when I last saw him, and that was two months before you were born. I don't think he knew about you, and I haven't seen him since."

Not even a shard of deception in that explanation, as usual. She made a specific point never to lie to her son. She didn't know what had become of the Sith, _Anakin_ , who was his sire. She didn't care, to be honest. He meant nothing to her, she barely even knew his last name, not that she needed to, it was Skywalker.

"The weird woman said you use the Dark Side of the Force too. What's she talking about?"

It seemed his latest tutor was in the habit of putting her nose where it didn't belong. That was another reason she'd teach him personally, instead of some tutor. She was sorely tempted to kill the woman, she would, by not now.

"The Force is the most powerful thing that exists. It exists everywhere, in the air, in the earth, in us, me and you especially. A living being that can touch and wield the Force is called Force-sensitive, but there are a rarer class of people, predominantly humans or pureblood Sith, that have such a deep connection to the Force that they are referred to as Force-dominant. You and I are Force-dominant.

"Long before even I was born, the Force itself was divided into two main aspects, the Light and the Dark."

Luke interrupted quietly. "Which is stronger?"

"The Dark Side is stronger because it comes naturally and easily, through powerful emotions, the strongest among them are Anger, Hate and Fear. The Light is weaker on a basic level because it requires a truly brilliant emotion, pure Love, or years and years of training to wield it while void of emotion."

Vaylin sat up, keeping her child to her chest, in such a way which anyone else would call possessive. But, that was what she was, possessive. She would not relinquish her son to anyone, for _anything_.

Calling on the Force, she lifted the fallen golden red leaves of autumn, causing them to spiral around them in a gentle vortex. Luke was immediately enraptured by the simple use of her power, a joyful smile on his face. It barely took a hint of her concentration to create the encircling wind, but he loved it all the same. Let him learn at his own pace, she decided, no need to force knowledge onto him. He already knew elementary mathematics, how to read and type, and had begun to learn the history of Zakuul. Up until today, she had relied on tutors to educate him whilst she focused on remoulding the Eternal Empire into what she wanted it be.

However, now that the series of tutors had all tried and failed to keep his interest, she would have to split her attention between finishing his education and performing her duties as Empress, all whilst shielding him from the less pleasant realities of ruling. That would prove to be difficult without a High Justice, which was a title she oneday hoped to bestow upon her son. Arcann could potentially stand in until Luke was grown.

As she found herself lost in her thoughts, Luke had found a stick that was straight enough to pass for training stave material. As she drifted back to reality, she found him swinging the too-long makeshift sword around wildly at an attempt to imitate lightsaber techniques.

Vaylin smiled at his childishness and stood up, foregoing her hood. Gently, she pulled the stick from his hands with the Force, shaking her head. "Not yet Luke."

He pouted, but didn't object audibly.

Picking him up again, she let the small boy wrap his arms around her neck and curl up against her, feeling tiredness radiate off of him. It seemed evading Arcann for almost an hour had tired him out, and he was probably talked out of his mind by the tutor she now intended to kill. That woman had been around for a few days and she had caused trouble, and reminded her the boy's former mother, for whom she had nothing but hate. Any potential memory of what he was had been destroyed with the blood ritual.

As Luke fell asleep in her arms, she headed back to the city limits. As usual, the guards said nothing, just let her pass and reclaim the speeder she had used. Flying back to the palace, she took her son back to his bedchamber, which she had ordered to be constructed adjacent to hers when he was 3 years old, a single door separating her from him.

Posting four of her Elite Horizon Guard at his door, and two inside the room, she took another two with her to the Throne Room and signalled for the failed tutor to be brought in. As she waited the brief delay, she stood facing the Eternal Throne, hands clasped behind her back.

Mere moments later, she heard the hiss of the doors, and sensed the guards who brought the woman leave alongside her two Elite ones. They were alone.

"Katawen Cavicat."

"Yes, your glorious majesty?" The woman asked, confusion and a little fear in her voice.

"Are you a mother Cavicat?"

"Yes majesty, I have a 5 year old son."

"What would you do to protect your son? How far would you go?"

"I… would do anything, Empress."

"Anything?" Vaylin's voice took a dangerously cold tone. "I see. Perhaps you do understand, how I feel about my own son, born of my own womb through blood and tears. I would burn the entire galaxy down if it was the only way to keep him safe from anyone that would try to bring harm to him. But do you know how I would feel if someone within this Empire harmed his mind, scarred him for life?"

"No, Empress."

Her burning eyes opened, and the fire within turned from embers to a furious storm. "No, of course you wouldn't. Because you aren't me."

Unclasping her hands, the debased Force wielder turned about, showing her rage to the woman, instantly striking undiluted fear into her heart. Her hands and forearms began to crackle with purple lightning, and her lightsaber was violently drawn into her hand as she strode right up to the woman.

"Since you don't, you'll just have to imagine my fury to find out that **you** have nearly done exactly that! My son has **no father!** Not anymore! He is **mine** , and no one else's! And **YOU… HAVE NEARLY HURT HIM FOR LIFE!** So for your transgression, the judgement… is **DEATH!** "

The yellow blade ignited with a scream, piercing straight through the woman's stomach. With a snarl, Vaylin ripped the weapon out, casting it aside.

With a Force enhanced left backhand, she sent Katawen flying into the side of the sphere that encased the Throne Room where it was built in space. Seizing the failed tutor, she hurled the older woman into the other side at high speed, keeping her caught in the telekinetic grasp. Throwing the woman to crash at her feet, Vaylin reared her electrified hand, capturing Cavicat in a Force Choke.

With a scream, she hurled a concentrated storm of lightning straight into the woman's body, nothing but hate for Padme Amidala and the jealous memory of her behind it. In seconds, nothing was left, not even ash.

Catching her breath, the less-than-sane Empress felt no guilt, she had eliminated what she perceived as a threat. Time to prepare for the festival that was her son's birthday.

* * *

The small green Jedi Master opened his eyes, emerging from his meditation with Qui Gon's spirit as he heard an inquisitive voice.

"Master Yoda?"

In front of him was his and Obi Wan's shared Padawan, Leia Skywalker, with the usual curious look on her face as she sat down in front of him. With a kind, grandfatherly smile, Yoda answered. "What help can I be, Leia, hmm?"

"Why does the Force call out in pain? Is it hurting?"

As he had always said, truly wonderful was the mind of a child. It was so perceptive, and many things occurred to it that did not to the mind of an adult. To feel the cry of the Force at such a young age, and through the dark fog that was the Dark Side which Nam Chorios was so strong with, was truly impressive. Already, the 4 year old was feeling things in the Force that even he could not.

"Unbalanced, the Force is, dominate it, the Dark Side does. With the fall of the Jedi, cast into darkness the balance was."

"Is the Dark Side stronger?"

"No. But seductive, it is." He began explaining. "Beware the Dark Side, if start down the dark path you do, forever dominate your destiny it will. Anger, Fear, Aggression; of the Dark Side they are. A Jedi uses the Force only for defense, healing, knowledge, never to attack. At peace, the Light flows, in emotion, the Dark Side rampages."

"So it's the easy way out?" Leia questioned.

"Powerful is the Dark Side, but only initially. A path of shortcuts, it is. By the shortcuts users take, thin is their strength. Intense, but thin is the power it bestows. If endurant enough a Jedi is, resist and overcome it, they will."

Obi Wan approached at that moment. "Master Yoda is right Leia. I've fought several individuals who used the Dark Side, three of them were Sith Lords. Darth Maul was my rival of sorts, I encountered Darth Tyranus several times during the Clone Wars, and Darth Vader was my apprentice before he joined Sidious.

"Maul was fast, strong, truly skilled in combat, and with that came intense, unrelenting strength. But after the storm comes the unwinding of the hurricane, his power became manageable to combat, and I defeated him twice. The Light is stronger because it endures."

Wrapping his brown cloak around him, the former General in the Grand Army of the Republic spoke with his usual calm tone.

"Now it's time you went to bed."

Standing up, Leia bowed her head. "Yes Master."

Then she went to bed.

As she walked away, the two Jedi Masters watched her until her silhouette entered the hut and disappeared as she headed to her bed. Then they faced each other, and Obi Wan spoke first.

"Have you sensed it?"

"Yes. A shift in the Force, there has been. Been committed, a terrible act has. Spark betrayal it will, in time, I sense. Rising, something is. Something long forgotten."

Allowing Luke to hold her hand, Vaylin walked at a slower pace than usual to allow him to keep up, her eyes burning bright. The doors to the balcony above the ballroom opened, and the holocameras focused on them.

Walking to the railing, she sensed Arcann stand behind her, to her rear left. He never left her and Luke alone if the Elite Horizon Guard weren't nearby unless he had contrasting orders.

"Today we celebrate the fourth year since the Eternal Empire's Prince was born, my son, whom I couldn't love more, or be prouder to present. He has grown so much in such little time, I find myself without the words to describe it. It feels like mere weeks since his birth. Of all the treasures in this galaxy, to be a mother, to have a child to love and cherish, it is by far the greatest of any that a person can possess."

The crowd cheered emphatically, and with a single thought, she triggered the launcher sequence for the fireworks that lit up the night. They were primarily gold and silver, but there were many other colours in lesser number amongst them.

Taking Luke in her arms, Vaylin settled him on her hip, observing the fireworks with him for a while as the crowd too focused on them. Her brother's hand was near his lightsaber and his eyes were constantly raking every angle given he knew all too well that a party similar to this hosted by Vaylin had been crashed by the Outlander, then himself. But she focused on the moment, and on her son.

He was hers, and always would be.


	5. Beginnings

Striding into the hut he had just blasted the Jedi into, Darth Vader approached menacingly and captured the man in a Force Choke, raising him up off the ground as the red Sith blade activated once more.

"I sense someone _far_ more powerful nearby." He intoned coldly. "Where is your Master?"

"The Dark Side has clouded your mind… you killed my Master years ago…" The rogue Jedi gasped out.

Raising his lightsaber, Vader spoke. "Then now you will share his fate."

Without warning, his weapon was telekinetically ripped from his grasp, flying behind him. He turned swiftly to see a young boy, approximately 9 years old, catch his red bladed sword of energy in his small hands.

"A son?"

"Run!" The Jedi cried.

Immediately, the Dark Lord of the Sith crushed the man's neck, taking a few steps towards the boy cautiously. He was clearly horrified.

That moment, the abominable Commander from earlier entered with a small squad of stormtroopers, and immediately ordered them to kill the child. The boy seemed to hold the too long and, in his small hands, unwieldy blade in a hopeless attempt at defense. A mere moment before the Imperials opened fire, Vader summoned his lightsaber back and moved in front of the boy at lightning speed, using the Soresu elements of his fighting style to reflect the blaster bolts right back at them, killing them all, even the officer.

Turning back to the boy, he looked down at him. "Come with me, more will be here soon."

* * *

"Feel the Force flow through you, it obeys you. Take charge of it, it is like your limbs, it's a part of you, you control it." The Knight trainer instructed the group.

The 7 year old Prince locked on to the target, and reached out with his right hand, guiding the Force as he was told. Sure enough, the training mannequin began to rise off the ground. Weight, size, shape, they meant nothing. They were insignificant compared to the power of the Force. There was no limitation of scale, for the supernatural energy existed in all things.

Vaylin watched from the shadows of the balcony above the training ground, undetected by all who were there. Analysing the teaching methods had become a pastime now that most everything was running smoothly within her Empire. There were the occasional… snags, but they were easily bypassed.

The class she was presently observing was the children who had been drafted and just started in Knight Academy, with whom Luke had been placed. It had changed considerably from her previous visit, some 3600 years ago. The instructors weren't soft now that Arcann had made the best use of seven years to tighten up standards. Only the adequately skilled made it through, the less so were personally taken on by Arcann in his time he regularly spent there. By the time he was done with them, they were just as competent as the other trainees. No one knew what he did to being them up to par, but he was effective to say the least.

Each of the trainees she was presently observing had to use all their focus and both hands to levitate their mannequin, but it was all too easy for her son. In fact, he was lifting the sand from the training ground floor, much to the surprise of everyone but her.

"Prince Luke, you may release the mannequin."

Dropping the training target back on the ground, Luke relinquished his hold over the Force. The sand dropped back to the floor.

He had the power to lift everything in the training ground not bolted down, and some things that were, but he lacked the control to narrow his area of effect. In short, she would have to teach him to control his powers to a greater degree. It wouldn't take long, given how quickly he picked up the Force.

 **Timeskip - 5 Years**

Luke was locked in absolute focus as he sparred with Arcann, wooden staves in their hands instead of real weapons. The clacks of the two wooden practice weapons resounded through the arena, observed and supervised by the Captain of the Horizon Guard, who stood at the edge of the pit-like practise arena. The trainee Knights were observing also. The man with a cybernetic arm tracked the boy's movements, predicted them, and caught his right wrist with his mechanical hand.

His grip tightened to a vice. The Prince of Zakuul released the stave with his right hand and caught it with his left, swinging it to block his uncle's. His foot collided with the scarred warrior's stomach multiple times, knocking out some of his breath from his lungs. The 12 year old twisted around his captured arm, and made an imitation of stabbing.

"I got you." He declared happily.

Arcann pushing his stave a bit, causing it to tap against Luke's chest and block his weapon simultaneously. "You haven't beaten me. You've sacrificed your guard for a killing blow."

The pair disengaged and stuck the wooden practice weapons into the sand. Mere moments after they bowed to each other, the Eternal Executioner looked aside, receiving a command via the comlink built into his mask.

Arcann adopted a questioning look and inquired, "Is is _that_ time?"

The scarred former Emperor led Luke out of the arena, but not before Luke's friend Zaijer called out to wish him luck.

"See you later."

The Horizon Guard Captain motioned the next Knight trainee into the ring as the young heir walked shoulder to shoulder with his uncle to the dock at the tower leading up to the Throne Room. Leaving no time for the questions of the younger of the males, the pair left and boarded Vaylin's personal shuttle that was docked at the Spire.

Arcann took the pilot seat, inputting an unknown set of coordinates into the hyperdrive. As the ship detached, the 12 year old asked, "Where are we going Uncle?"

"The Dragon's Forge." He replied in explanation.

Uncle and nephew took kneeling seated positions opposite each other, the younger of the two following the elder's example.

"What's the Dragon Forge?"

"It's the place made by the Immortal Emperor for the creation of lightsabers, and the source of all kyber crystals on Zakuul, be they past, present or future."

Arcann's explanation was calm, serene. He continued, "Not only was my present lightsaber made there, but Thexan created his final lightsaber there as well. Your mother's was forged for her by our brother when we built our own, then later given to her. Now, it will serve to construct your own lightsaber."

* * *

The royal shuttle exited hyperspace to be greeted by a frigid planet. The shuttle flew in, and within the hour, they touching down on the ice that didn't even rumble under the landing. The doors of the craft opened, and suddenly Luke felt absolutely freezing. However, he did as he had been taught, pushed his physical discomfort to the back of his mind, and followed Arcann out of the ship and onto the frozen tundra. He slipped on the glassy ice, but the Force wrapped around him and righted him at his uncle's will and hand motion.

Feeling the absolute chill of the whipping wind, the former Emperor cautioned himself mentally to be mindful of Luke. He was far younger than he had been when he and Thexan had braved this planet, they'd been wearing coldgear too.

The Executioner of Zakuul took his yellow-bladed weapon and held it tight in his hand, so not to lose it to the snowstorm. He led the way. As they cautiously trudged across the icy plain, Luke noticed a river of what seemed to be blue water. Arcann noticed his gaze and called out over the wind's mighty roar. "The Dragon's Ice! Don't let even a drop touch you or you'll freeze solid in seconds!"

Pressing on, they fought their way through the storm. Eventually they came to a decorative ice cliff with a dragon's head that had the Dragon's Ice gushing from its open mouth at the top, creating a waterfall.

"This is it!" The scarred man yelled over the snowy gale.

Gripping his lightsaber tighter, he lit the blade and stabbed down into the ice, a pressure wave resonating from the impact. Ever so slowly, the Dragon's Ice waterfall began to part down the middle. As the parting grew wide enough, it revealed a massive block of ice barring the entrance.

"Luke! You have to lift the ice!" Arcann instructed the Empress's son.

Reaching out with his hands, Luke raised the block of ice to reveal another behind it. "There's another!"

"It's how the Dragon's Forge was built, requiring at least two individuals to access it! Only Valkorion could open it alone, Thexan and I worked together to enter!"

Focusing at the point between rage and serenity, Valkorion's son lifted the second block and carefully entered under the parted waterfall, the strain of holding the unbelievably heavy block of ice and the ice waterfall clear on his face. Luke stuck right next to him, they moved until they were both stood under the second raised block.

"Luke, drop the first one!"

Recognising the urgency to his uncle's words, Zakuul's Prince released his hold on the first block, which enabled Arcann to stop parting the waterfall. The armoured man raised his lightsaber aloft as a light. "Lift the next block."

Outstretching both his hands, Luke resonated his will in the Force and, albeit nowhere near as fast as Arcann, managed to raise the next barrier. He moved under it cautiously, and the elder o the pair followed, his uncle dropping the previous block. Rearing a single hand, the former ruler raised the next obstruction and moved under it. Twice more they dropped and raised blocks, and they were inside the Dragon's Forge. The 12 year old released the last block from his power and and it crashed back to the ground, as if it had never been lifted.

The yellow lightsaber was the only light in the stone passage. Keeping the weapon aloft, Arcann led the way to the final destination, his nephew remaining immediately behind him.

Entering a large room, they found what they sought. Pointing to one of the 13 circles engraved as part of the carving in the floor, the largest one which was surrounded by the other 12, the older woman spoke. "Luke, we will be there."

Luke took his kneeling seated position on one side of the giant circle, Arcann opposite him, identically. The Empress's personal executioner spoke softly.

"The Jedi forge their lightsabers by passing a Trial of Learning to find their crystal, then constructing their weapons based on what they 'feel' in their hand. The Sith bleed kyber crystals to corrupt them with the Dark Side and turn them red, then take what parts they can find to assemble a lightsaber. Those who make their lightsabers in the Dragon's Forge use neither of these crude, archaic methods. They create true lightsabers, every component comes from here, so that the entire weapon is a conduit for the Force, and not just the crystal."

Zakuul's Prince closed his eyes and fully took his meditation pose, listening to his uncle's voice.

"Let the Force flow through you, into you, out from you and around you. Connect with it, immerse yourself in it, allow it to surround you, let it open your mind. Let your vision come to you, don't force it."

He followed the directives, allowing the entirety of the Force to guide his mind, Light and Dark as one singular energy. Then, through the tranquil ocean of the Force, he saw.

He saw a lightsaber hilt that was silver on the exterior with partings in the plating that revealed a little of the ringed black sleeve beneath in bands in the top two thirds. The pommel was a diminuendo on the half inch, leading to semicircular ring on the end which could fit a small carabiner through it so that it could be clipped to the belt. It had a guard on the shroud emitter, a little over an inch long. More than anything else, he could feel every single part of the weapon, every individual molecule, as a collective structure.

The vision ended, and he became aware again.

"I saw it… my lightsaber."

With an approving smile beneath the mask, Arcann continued his instruction. "Good, now call upon the Force to help you create what your vision showed you. Channel your vision into the Forge, and the Forge will produce what you require."

He began to meditate, and from nothing ignited flames, filling the carving lines in the ground with fire, encircling both of them in walls of roaring blaze.

Shifting his hands from resting on his thighs, he planted them on the floor and channeled his vision towards the Forge at the back of the room, that churned into life with the sound of a thousand droid factories, and began to create the components, the exact ones he had felt within the vision. The inferno licked at him like a nest of vipers, waiting to strike. His sleeves caught fire with all the speed of broken speeder, burning thread by thread as he toiled in the Force, sweat pouring off him, dirt and grime coating his exposed skin, getting trapped in his hair and seeped into his clothes. He did not burn, however, immune to the fire that still caused him discomfort.

It felt like minutes to him, but in reality it was hours on end. As the materials were created, they formed each part of the visionary hilt he knew them to belong to. After well over a half a day, all that was left to make was the crystal.

"Take the Living Force that resides within you, and forge it into a crystal. Make energy crystalline, then give it physicality."

Resuming his full kneeling seated position, he did exactly that. It took many, many hours, and by the end he was on his last legs so to speak. But he had done it.

By this point his state of being closely mirrored Vaylin's own during her initial imprisonment on Nathema, sleeves gone, clothes filthy but his hair had not been shaved like hers had been by the Nathema Zealots.

The parts of the lightsaber rose from the floor and floated before his closed eyes, slowly assembling into his weapon from the vision. The innards, provided by the Dragon Forge, were covered by the ringed black sleeve, then the silver metal plating slid into place at turtle speed, the guard on the shroud emitter locked in, and it was finally, absolutely and totally done. His lightsaber was constructed at long last even though it barely felt like an hour to him.

The new lightsaber floated into his hand, and he stood. With the Force, he pressed the activation trigger that lay beneath the metal under the centre of his palm, and a bright yellow blade shot out of the hilt with a deep hiss. He gazed at the blade for a moment, then extinguished it.

In exhaustion, he pitched forward as the flames died, sprawling on the once again cold stone floor on his side. The newly made lightsaber remained in his loose grip.

"He took longer than myself and Thexan, and he's exhausted himself. But, I suppose it's to be expected." Arcann remarked to himself. "After all, he _is_ considerably younger than we were and was exposed to the elements in a way we never were."

* * *

It took well over a day before he woke, but he was ready to brave the cold once more. With a tight grip on his new weapon, he followed his uncle out of the Forge, lifting the stones again and the waterfall being parted once more. From there it was a long, freezing trek back to the shuttle, but they made the journey nonetheless, boarding the craft and taking off. The 12 year old hooked his new weapon to his belt and took the time of the trip back to Zakuul to rest further and recover his energy from the ordeal he had endured.

Or so it would've been, but for one small detail.

They came out of hyperspace in mere minutes, and an alert sounded. Arcann immediately ran straight to the cockpit, his one side tinted vision immediately falling on the text on the hologram display. Shock and something eerily reminiscent of rage filled his voice.

"The hyperdrive has been sabotaged, it was only good for one jump before it would overload on the second!"

Whirling around, he literally tore a locker open with the Force and called a Holographic Space Suit Emitter out. Without even physically grasping it, he hurled the device straight at the exhausted Prince, who was confused, and it impacted on his chest, activating. An airtight and transparent ray shield that perfectly conformed to the 12 year old's body encased him.

Then the hyperdrive hit overload, and exploded.

* * *

Suddenly feeling a void where the presence of her son's consciousness usually resided in her mind, Vaylin screamed as a cold embrace seized her. The Knights who were lined up along the walkway to the Eternal Throne rose as she fell to her knees, clutching at their throats as she unconsciously strangled them all, her powers running rampant as her control vanished.

"NO! WHERE IS HE?!"

All of the Knights hit the ground with crushed armour, all their bones broken, blood seeping from cracks in their armour as she regained control, but not after killing them all.

The debased Empress' breath came in harsh inhales and exhales as she stalked slowly back to the Throne, opening the channel to the Captain of the Horizon Guard. Her voice, for the first time in 12 years, was full of nothing but venom.

"Load up the Eternal Fleet and have the Gemini Captains engage stealth mode. Send a vessel to each and every system remotely in the path between Zakuul and the Dragon's Forge, and ALL surrounding systems and **FIND MY SON! LEAVE NO HOSPITABLE PLANET, MOON, GAS GIANT, NEBULA OR PLANETOID UNCHECKED! IF YOU DON'T DISPATCH THOSE SHIPS NOW, I WILL BLAST YOU AND YOUR FAMILY INTO OBLIVION!** "

" _It will be done Empress Vaylin._ "

Closing the channel, Vaylin turned about and SCREAMED, volatile purple lightning throwing itself outwards from her body, unrestrained and unchained for the first time since her final duel with the Outlander. She prowled down the walkway, every drop of blood vaporising, each Knight disintegrating, their weapons and shields not even spared as she exited the Throne Room.

Every single person in the palace stayed clear of her by 100 metres, fleeing as she made straight for the Royal Vault. Opening the door, she located her mother's holocron, calling it violently into her hand and activating it.

Senya's spirit was released, and immediately screamed at.

" **FIND LUKE, I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, JUST FIND HIM!** "

Her mother simply nodded, and vanished. Vaylin was left with a storm radiating from her body, and pure hatred in her heart, her eyes burning like stars.

"Whoever did this… will die a thousand deaths!"

* * *

Seeing the Togruta woman hold a hand to her head, her female Iridonian Zabrak Padawan inquired curiously. "What is it Master?"

"I feel a slight disturbance in the Force. It is nearby, that is the only reason I felt it."

"I feel nothing."

Shaak Ti looked down at the 13 year old girl who was the only survivor alongside her of the Sacking of the Jedi Temple. "That is because your senses are not as attuned as mine Maris."

Taking control of the junker ship she had acquired years ago, she deactivated the autopilot and steered it about, heading for the far end of the Cholganna System. Passing the last moon, the Jedi Master and Padawan saw the blown apart wreck of a ship. It appeared to have exploded from the inside, emanating from the hyperdrive was the general idea.

"What could have done this?" Maris gaped.

"Sabotage is the most likely explanation."

Flying closer, they got a close-up look at the devastated ship, apparently some sort of shuttle. The Jedi Master looked for identifying markings or features, finding none. "Interesting. This ship matches no make in the known galaxy. But where are the crew's bodies?"

The Padawan leant on the console, peering into the wreckage.

"There!"

Following the Zabrak girl's pointing finger, the red skinned alien spotted the drifting form, wrapped in some sort of shield. The scanners indicated no other lifeforms in the wreckage.

"Maris, open the cargo hold but enable the passive shield atmospheric pressure."

The young teen ran to do exactly that, and Shaak Ti maneuvered the ship to have the hold door facing the drifting lifeform. Then she joined her apprentice at the now passive shielded open cargo hold.

Extending her hand, she wrapped the shielded form in a gentle but firm grip and pulled them towards the ship, careful in getting the person free of the wreckage. Drawing the shielded individual inside the ship, she lowered them to the floor with care, and closed the door. Then, manipulating the Force, she deactivated the device in the person, now clearly a human boy about Maris' age, and the shield peeled away, vanishing.

"Perhaps when he wakes up, this boy can tell us what happened." The Jedi Master theorised.

Then she looked down, and saw the lightsaber attached to his belt. Taking it in her hands, it felt new, as if built mere hours ago, but it was _powerful_. The crystal within perfectly resonated with the boy who it belonged to, in fact the entire weapon did. And it was a Force-activated lightsaber, rare, the activation switch being beneath the hilt's surface. A well crafted weapon, made of Force-imbued materials and a strange crystal.

Applying the Force to the activation switch, she was surprised to see a brilliant yellow blade emerge from the hilt. Pale yellow had been the colour of the Temple Guards' double-sided lightsaber pikes, but she'd never seen a blade this brilliant a yellow before.

"Who are you child?"


	6. Stranded

" _Where am I?"_

Luke's words echoed around the empty void. He seemed to be standing on an asteroid in the middle of space. There was nothing but blackness lighted by the radiance of uncountable stars in the great distance away.

" _I have always loved the stars."_

A tall, bearded man in royal armour and robes walked into his line of vision. His hair was silver, and his eyes were fiery like his mother's, his robes were black, trimmed with gold, and thin gold regard designs bordered the white armour. Twin drapes hung from the back of his chest armour, the same colour as his robes.

" _Who are you?"_ He inquired.

The man brought his gaze to bear on the Prince of Zakuul. " _I have been known by many names across my millennia; Tenebrae, Vitiate, and many others. You would know me as Valkorion, the First Emperor of Zakuul."_

" _Then you…"_

" _Yes."_ Valkorion confirmed. " _I have waited millennia to meet you… grandson."_

Wrapping his arm around Luke's shoulders, he turned him to face the starlit void. There was a calm somberness to his voice, grandfatherly and wise.

" _Of my three children, your mother Vaylin was always my favourite. As a child, she was always joyful, the only exception being when Senya, her mother, discouraged her use of the Force. She was a sweet little girl, innocent, and deeply admired her brothers. But because of Senya stifling her powers, she grew to be… troubled… She could not control her powers when she was upset or frustrated, but still Senya wouldn't teach her the ways of the Force. After a… violent… loss of control, I stepped in, and did what your grandmother would not. I lessened her powers until she learned to control them, made her gift safe until she learned to keep it from being a danger to herself and others._

" _Unfortunately, my duties as the founder and Emperor of Zakuul kept me from my children for much of my time, and our relationship became… strained. I could not reach Arcann despite my efforts, it was never enough for him. He desired more than I could give, and grew to be frustrated with me. It was the prominent emergence of his hamartia, his tragic flaw. His is jealousy, although he now tempers it well with regret. Thexan's is loyalty. Vaylin's is greed. Senya's is faith. Mine is ambition. I believe yours is love. Be careful with your heart grandson, it is easily wounded."_

Luke looked at him, confused. " _Mother's fatal flaw… is greed?"_

" _I phrased that vaguely, my apologies. I meant that she is possessive of things that she values, her power, the Eternal Throne, but above all else,_ you _are the one thing she would sacrifice all else for."_

To him, that made more sense than his grandfather's previous explanation.

" _Where am I?"_

" _Your body is comatose, in the care of a Jedi. This place, however, is what has been referred to as the spiritual plane, or dream world. You are here because you are in a coma, and I am here because you are here. The shuttle you were aboard was sabotaged by dissidents on Zakuul who ungratefully refuse to accept my daughter's sovereign rein. It was an ill-conceived plot to murder your mother. Arcann saved you from the explosion, but was unable to defend himself. He rests precariously on the tipping point of the Force, between life and death. You cannot help him from here, he was thrown away from the ship's wreckage in the blast, and drifts aimlessly in space, his mask allowing him to breathe shallowly, enough to survive for a time."_

A brilliant light radiated in the canyon below, and Valkorion glanced at it for moment as it died.

" _A future enemy has come to take your life."_

* * *

As he drifted in the void, Arcann's eyes opened. It had been days. Only his mask was keeping him alive, recycling the carbon dioxide he breathed out for pure oxygen. His lungs were agony, as if they were being crushed. He was slipping away, on the verge of…

A vessel from the Eternal Fleet decloaked as he finally lost hold of everything.

Aboard the bridge, the Gemini Captain dispatched a squad of SR Skytroopers to bring the slowly and painfully suffocating warrior aboard. Detecting no other life signs, it loaded up the Eternal Executioner and sent him back to Zakuul aboard a shuttle, being sustained and monitored by a series of probe droids. Every time he began to slip further, they dragged him back, using whatever methods necessary to keep him alive for the flight.

The vessel cloaked once more and went on to continue its search.

* * *

Taking her father's lightsaber from her belt, Leia ignited the blade and stood at the ready in a Soresu stance. With a single command, the four training spheres activated, taking to the air and firing at her from random angles at irregular intervals.

With a fluid, but not yet graceful performance, she deflected each bolt away from herself, not one grazing her. The more time went on, the more rapidly they fired. Immersing herself in the Light Side of the Force, the calm blanket washing over her as usual, and she continued to reflect the fire away from herself, her feet and weapon moving now entirely according to the energy that guided her defense, and it was as if she had taken a back seat, the Force was driving. It was flawless in technique, not one of the stinging bolts striking her.

In a brilliant flash, she was suddenly enraptured in what seemed to be a vision. She was standing on an asteroid. It felt _dark,_ specifically, behind her. Turning, she studied the ridge above.

Atop the ridge were two figures, one was an silver haired man, the other a blonde boy about her age. She heard what the older of the pair said clearly.

" _A future enemy has come to take your life."_

From the regally armoured man, she felt only _darkness_ , such dark power like nothing she'd ever felt on Nam Chorios. He had to be a Sith! From the boy, there was a mix of light a dark, not in conflict but both were just… _there_. An apprentice then.

Taking the hilt from her spiritual body's belt, she turned the blue blade on, holding in the guard stance she had been using in her training exercise. She had to face them.

* * *

Luke noticed as Valkorion presented him with his newly forged lightsaber from seemingly out of nowhere. Hesitantly, he took it, gripping the hilt comfortably. It fit him perfectly.

" _Then she will fall, as all enemies of our Empire must."_

Leaping down, he landed on one knee, rising. He let the brilliant yellow blade burn, and spun it as he moved into the Djem So 'Ready' stance, his right foot back, left forward, spaced to bring his centre of gravity lower. The blade was parallel to his eyes, and he held the hilt with both hands, drawing it back, ready to attack. Their eyes locked, blue and brown. Their feet shifted.

Moving with five years of intensive lightsaber combat training, he brought the yellow blade up in an underhanded strike from right to left, battering the blue blade back, carrying through with the motion, spinning with a leap, putting his body weight behind the lightsaber as he brought it smashing down on the girl's own in a targeted blow intended to strike at her neck and slice down to her right hip. Her block held, staunch enough to resist his assault.

Finally, a challenge. Duels with Zaijer Cavicat, his friend and Knight-in-training, were fun but they lacked a certain… difficulty. He always won. He supposed it was because he was personally trained by the greatest master of lightsaber combat in the Eternal Empire.

Pushing back, he twisted in the air, making a stab her side, which was parried accordingly, and they continued. Blue and yellow flashed rapidly, as he used his superior strength to keep her on the defensive, her speed allowing her to keep up with him. This girl used Soresu for her defense, hard to break, and he would exhaust himself before he did. But, he would survive.

Gathering the Force, he blasted her back, and with a ripple of space, she disappeared. Her presence vanished from the dream world.

Valkorion clapped, and he knew he had succeeded.

" _Well done Grandson, you have faced your first test. There will be more in the years to come, but you will overcome them I'm sure. Already, you show more promise than Arcann did. Come, we have much to discuss."_

* * *

With unbelievable agony, Arcann forced his eyes open. Excruciation was the only thing in his shattered cerulean irises. With uncontrollable shuddering, the irreparably broken orbs dragged down to hold their gaze on his chest, where the unbelievable torment was radiating from the location the blast of the hyperdrive had primarily struck him. What he saw, through his bloodshot and blurry vision, horrified him too his core.

His torso was wide open, as if he was the subject of a dissection, and Zakuul medical droids were doing _something_ to him!

Faintly, he was able to detect Vaylin's malevolent presence enter the room.

"Where's Luke?" He managed to force out through the agony, turning his tortured eyes to fall on her hazy face. "Is he safe? Is he alright?"

"My shuttle was sabotaged, and the Eternal Fleet hasn't found him! This is your fault Arcann! He was under your watch, **AND YOU LOST MY SON!** " The now-even-more debased Empress screamed at him. " **I CAN'T FIND HIM! I CAN'T EVEN FEEL HIM ANYMORE! AND IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM!** "

The wall groaned and strained under her fury, buckling, panels being crushed to the size of pebbles and her blurry form radiating a constant storm of lightning.

Arcann was frozen in guilt and shock, his tormented gaze transfixed on his sister's face, seeing the absolute heartbreak on her face. And in that moment, with her hood down, her hair wrenched behind her shoulder by the power she kept unleashing, he saw the terrifying resemblance to their mother Senya when she had pulled him from the wreckage of his flagship.

A heartbroken woman who'd lost her son.

But the difference here was that Vaylin was not a woman, she was still a child in his mind, and in the minds of Thexan and Senya. And what Valkorion had done prior to this moment…

Tears of pain and guilt fell from his eyes as he closed them once again, his head returning to the metal operating table with a dull thud, the various tools of the droids probing and slicing into him. Then there was a shift in the Force.

It was as if his windpipe had been closed off, and an immense pressure seized his throat. It took him a few seconds before he realised _Vaylin_ was the cause. Her hand was outstretched, clawed. The very technique she'd subjected so many others to had now been turned on him in her rage. It felt like the void of space once again, but this time without his mask.

"Vaylin…" He gasped in shock. She'd never used her powers on him directly before!

But she wouldn't let go. She had shut out the alarmed reactions of the droids, and was entirely focused on suffocating him.

" _VAYLIN!_ "

A glowing yellow, spectral fist burst through her chest without a mark, and she lost consciousness, slumping against the owner.

The astral form of his twin Thexan was revealed as their younger sister fell back into his arms. The black clad spirit pulled her beyond the doorway and laid her down, turning to Arcann, whom the droids were working frantically to stabilise. He looked exhausted, which should have been impossible.

" _Vaylin has grown so_ powerful _. It took everything I could command to incapacitate her, and just barely._ "

Suddenly, Thexan's form turned transparent, and he collapsed to his hands and knees. He fell, and Vaylin rose, her hand inside his astral body. She'd drained the Force from him. Force Drain, a dangerous power. Rage dominated her still young face, and her eyes burned with the radiance of unholy suns.

"So you betray me again Thexan! So much for loving me!" She snarled, tearing her hand from his intangible back.

Hurt crept onto the Force Ghost's face. " _I_ do _love you._ "

"LIAR!"

For a moment, Arcann saw his twin close his astral eyes, and the door to the operating theatre closed, sealing with an audible hiss. then it was just him, and the droids that were agonisingly keeping him conscious, with whatever they were doing to him.

* * *

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion."

The deep, mechanical and intimidating voice was the only sound in and amongst the din of a blood red lightsaber clashing with a blue one.

"Through passion, I gain strength."

Starkiller deactivated his blade and hit the deck, rolling beneath one of Vader's sweeping blows, successfully evading the armour clad juggernaut's slash.

"Through strength, I gain power."

Taking two running steps away from the Sith Lord, he executed a rapid backflip over the suited cyborg's head and let his blue blade burn again, swinging it it an underhanded Zone 2 attack.

"Through power, my chains are broken."

The Dark Lord deflected the strike and brutally blasted the 15 year old boy into the wall with the Force. As he made to rise, he slashed through the flesh of the boy's right shoulder, stopping short of the bone, leaving him to clutch the wound, struggling to stand as the semi-cauterised, 5 inch long and and inch deep gash made pain visible on his face. His lightsaber had deactivated due to the deadman switch in it.

"The Force shall free me."

Vader deactivated his own lightsaber and returned it to his belt, turning his back on the young Sith acolyte. "Your defenses against the Force are woefully lacking. You will receive no further training."

The borderline torturous Master then left the training room, leaving his student alone.

Once he had, Starkiller pulled himself up and called his weapon into his left hand and clipped it to the right side of his belt. He refused to let the pain overwhelm him, and drew on it to allow himself return to his quarters aboard the Super Star Destroyer that was still under construction. No one saw him, no one ever had, except his fellow acolytes.

As an unspoken law, Vader's acolytes weren't supposed to know of the others, but they did nevertheless. For instance, he knew there were at least 7 others. Kharys, a S'kytri who'd been under the Dark Lord the longest, the first. Tao, a former Jedi Padawan, the second. Hethrir and Rillao, Firrerreo mates who'd be taken under their Master's wing at the same time. Flint, the son of a Clone Wars Jedi. Finally there was Antinnis Tremayne, an ambitious and cowardly Inquisitor in training until Vader had 'killed' him.

However, Starkiller was the only one to know the whole cadre. He knew their fears and he knew their weaknesses, he knew their strength and he knew their limits. He knew _them_.

Suddenly, as he passed his holocom in his quarters, it activated. Quickly, he kneeled before the image of Vader appeared. When it did, he was in place.

" _Return to the training room Starkiller, immediately._ "

The transmission ended, and the 15 year old acolyte rose, turning on his heel and stealthily returning to the large, circular room that his brutal training sessions took place in. Entering the pitch black chamber, he heard only the mechanical breathing of his Master. He was _somewhere_ in the room. The teen assassin dare not speak. But Vader did.

"I have summoned you here for one reason alone, to determine if you are worthy to become my apprentice. Now… which of you will serve by my side?"

At that moment, Starkiller realised he wasn't alone. He sensed the 7 others, they were in here with him!

"The victor alone will resume their training."

Their Master had just put all 8 of them in a deathmatch!

Snarling, Starkiller strode into the middle of the room, ripped his lightsaber from his belt with the Force and the azure blade screamed hungrily into life as he uttered a challenge to the others who remained hidden in the darkness.

"Face me, if you dare."

2 aqua blades, 1 emerald blade, 1 dark orange blade, 2 copper blades, and an orange lightwhip light up the darkness, revealing their wielders to him. The aqua blades were held by Tao and Antinnis, Hethrir had a copper one, as did Kharys, Rillao had the emerald one, Flint had the dark orange blade and Lumiya brandished the lightwhip.

The wounded human set his nerves to cortosis and growled. "Come on!"

Then, all chaos broke loose. The 8 acolytes went in, and Starkiller found himself locking blades with Flint. The Jedi's son was older, but he lacked discipline and patience.

Faintly, he was aware of Lumiya whip cracking across Tao's hands, and he sensed Antinnis come up behind him. Shoving his azure blade forth, he drove Flint's to be 3 inches from his throat and lashed out backwards, kicking the backstabbing former Inquisitor in the face, breaking his nose.

With a single, swift motion, he spun on the spot, elbowing Flint in the head and leaping up at Kharys, who was using her wings to remain above them. With a vicious swing, he batted her off balance with a powerful, reverse grip slash.

"Get down here you coward!" He roared, shutting down his lightsaber and blasting her in the ceiling with a ruthless Force Push.

Twisting, he came down, tucking in and landing hard, sending a rush of telekinetic energy outward from himself as he rose from all fours. He would not lose this _deathmatch!_

"Damn walker!" The winged female spat as she caught herself in the air, flying again.

Gripping Kharys with the Force, he hurled her into Hethrir and catapulted himself at Lumiya, weaving around her whip. The tail of the flexible energy weapon lashed his chest, but he soldiered on, delivering a fierce kick to her head and downing her with a savage punch to the face. Reigniting his lightsaber, he smashed the azure blade into that of Antinnis, who had blood all over his face.

Driving the aqua coloured blade aside, he slashed open the coward's thigh and rolled, taking off Rillao's leg at the knee with a slash, finishing her with a stab through the chest. Rising, he spun and decapitated Tao. Hethrir drove his lightsaber through Flint's chest and roared in rage.

As the Firrerreo male charged him, Starkiller was aware of Kharys flying directly at his back in fury.

He knew what he had to do.

Blasting Hethrir flying with a devastating Force Push, he turned and smashing his saber against the flying female's with force unbelievable to her. Driving her own blade partially into her throat, he ducked her wing and bisected her without missing a beat.

With the remaining 3 in front of him, Starkiller outstretched his hands on instinct, and a deluge of blue lightning was unleashed upon them. They fell to the floor, steaming but alive.

"It seems you will be the one to continue your training... Starkiller."

He knew Vader was behind him now, about 5 metres away. His azure blade was now the only light in the darkness now. But even that was extinguished as his Master ripped the weapon that he had provided Starkiller from his grasp, crushed it to dust, and the Dark Lord presented a blood red kyber crystal to him when he turned to face the unseen figure that was his Master.

"Thank you, my master."


	7. The Jealous One

As the vision of the dream world changed to be that of the Eternal Throne Room, Luke heard Valkorion speak once more. " _Zakuul. For almost five thousand years it has stood. It has seen many Emperors, I was the first, but there has only been one Empress._ "

Seeing his mother on the Throne, looking furious even in the frozen moment in time, he called out.

" _Mother!_ "

" _She cannot hear you grandson, you are too far from Zakuul._ " The Immortal Emperor told him, resting his hand on the 12 year old´s shoulder.

" _Vaylin is the only Empress in the entire history of Zakuul. Although her first reign has been entirely forgotten, she once again commands the Eternal Empire, quite possibly my last surviving child. I have wondered what would have happened if Thexan had managed to quell Arcann's rage, and he survived to take the Throne._ "

Luke turned to look up at the face of his grandfather, curious. " _What happened?_ "

" _Thexan, unlike Arcann, understood that my duty as the Emperor had to come before my family, he accepted it, and did everything to alleviate my burden whilst not overstepping himself. But Arcann grew resentful, he did not understand. Very shortly after he suffered the injuries that necessitated his cybernetic arm, he became consumed by his resent, and that turned to hatred in a single moment due to his jealousy. He attempted to kill me, but Thexan pulled him back, and was briefly forced to duel him before he was struck down. Thexan… was murdered before my eyes._ "

Shock ripped through the young Prince as the revelation reached him. Arcann had murdered his own twin?

But it didn't end there.

" _Mere weeks after he murdered his brother, Arcann aided an individual who came to be called the Outlander in striking me down, severing my spirit from my body. I can still feel the lightsaber piercing my chest. From there, he rained tyranny down upon the entire galaxy, exploiting your mother's weaknesses to keep her at his side. When my jealous son turned on the Outlander, he was defeated in the Battle of Odessen, and he fled with his mother's aid._

" _Vaylin was then forced to take the Throne before she was remotely ready, to prevent the galaxy from falling into chaos. She had yet to mentally recover from Arcann's manipulations, and the sheer power of the Eternal Throne overwhelmed her mind. She did terrible things, bombed planets to ash, massacred thousands, but it was not her fault. She was too young, and she was by no means in the correct headspace to rule._ "

" _What do you mean?_ "

" _Your mother suffers from a mental illness that is unique to her among Force-dominant individuals, a type of subliminal, hereditary conditioning. A particularly traumatic phrase could activate the genetically encoded conditioning apparently, given Vaylin was traumatised when she was practically your age by the words 'Kneel before the Dragon of Zakuul'. The Outlander discovered and exploited her illness, crippling her mentally for a short time whenever they used it on her, sabotaging her connection to the Force and causing her extreme physical pain as well. Eventually, Vaylin overcame her trauma of those words by forcing herself to relive the event until she could no longer feel their sting, but the backlash lasted for a long time, long enough for the Outlander to stab her through the chest as they did me. She died, but brought herself back from death by sheer will, and somehow ended up in this era._ "

A deathly chill ran through Luke, and he collapsed, clutching his head. Kneeling beside him, Valkorion immediately deduced the cause.

" _Your spirit is breaking off from your body, you've been in this coma too long already. I have done all I can to preserve your life._ "

" _Why would you do that?_ " He managed through the cold.

" _You are a part of me I wish to keep. I can help, I only require the briefest moment of control. But I cannot save you unless you_ want _to be saved._ "

Shaking with the chill that felt like it was wracking his very bones, he managed to nod, and the ancient spirit lifted his chin with forefinger and thumb. From the contact, a dark, indiscernible power flowed into him, warming his body with a furious fire that burned as bright as a sun.

" _You are returning to your body now. We will meet again. I hold the patience of stone, and the will of stars. I sense you do also, they will serve you well._ "

Everything around him seemed to slip away, and the fire Valkorion had used to return him to his body became visible, wrapping itself around him, furious purple that turned to be the colour of natural flames. His vision itself was burnt away as he fell physicality and mortality return to him, things he'd felt detached from for what seemed like hours.

* * *

Vaylin stalked through the Palace of the Eternal Dragon, incensed. She felt a presence radiating, however faintly but there, from the Royal Vault. A presence she hadn't felt since… Valkorion!

Arriving at it, she unlocked the door as only she and Arcann knew how. Entering, the Empress slowly prowled through the vault, taking in the countless Jedi and Sith Holocrons and artifacts. At the back of the otherwise impenetrable vault, there was the Holocron of Senya Tirall, her accursed mother. It now sat empty given she'd released the Force Ghost that had been contained within it. But that wasn't where the abhorrent presence of the Immortal Emperor was leaking from. It was… deeper… hidden.

Extending her hand, she felt into the vault with the Force, quelling the pull of the collection of artifacts with her own insurmountable hatred. The taint of Valkorion lay behind the alcove that held her mother's holocron.

And there was a switch too.

Her temper flared as she activated the switch, and the alcove revolved 180°, revealing a new, different holocron. From the windows of it, a bloody, dark red light exuded.

Calling it into her hand, she searched it with the Force for the activation trigger. Finding it, a red spectre, a Sith Pureblood, appeared. His presence was similar, but it wasn't _him_.

"You aren't Father! Where is he?!" She demanded furiously, sparks flying from her hands.

" _So you are Tenebrae's last child, the one whom he brought to my prison in an attempt to control. Vaylin._ " The red skinned spirit remarked. His voice was far more echoing than Senya's or Thexan's, as if it was from beyond the time where Force-users could willingly retain their individuality after death.

The sparks stopped, and her eyes burned like Mustafar from orbit, relics levitating around her as her rage reached a precipice. " **HE CAGED ME LIKE AN ANIMAL!** "

" _True._ " The spirit agreed with her. " _He caged you when he could have taught you control._ "

"Father never would have done that! He was going to control me from the beginning!"

And why would he teach her? He was so powerful, he could control everything whilst he was alive, and he denied death so many times. He'd driven the Outlander to kill her from beyond death, dethroned Arcann, and orchestrated an entire war to destroy her and her only surviving brother. He'd allowed Thexan to be cut down in front of him. He'd allowed her Mother to abandon her.

" _You seek my low-born son. The Outlander managed to shatter his spirit in a battle within their own psyche, and with the aid of your family imprisoned the fragments in various ways across the stars. I act as the gatekeeper as this holocron's creator, and as a deterrent to anyone who would awaken him and allow him to reconstitute, intentionally or not. He has languished, powerless, for over 3 and a half millennia, and I will not allow you to unlock his prison._ "

Screaming, she hurled the polygon device against the far wall. Even she wasn't stupid enough to unleash _him_ again, but she wanted _so badly_ to destroy him!

Seething, she headed for the Throne Room.

* * *

Yoda's eyes snapped open abruptly as he sensed a firestorm of a disturbance as he communed with all the surviving Jedi he could detect from Nam Chorios. The Force granted him a vision in that moment.

 _The nearly 900 years old Jedi Master saw a man wreathed in a cloak of fire, and he looked demonic as eyes that looked like the burning embers of the ocean opened, as if fire was blossoming from the pupil, somewhat transparent, revealing the blue beneath, what had once been. Behind that man was a woman who radiated malevolence in a storm of purple lightning, with eyes that were a full inferno piercing through._

 _But that wasn't the end._

 _He saw a man on a ravaged battlefield, clad in black and medium grey robes with a cybernetic arm and a black mask that possessed an orange lense, his yellow lightsaber flashed as he cut down a defenseless person._

 _He saw an army of Sith behind a single Master that wore a black, ancient yet futuristic looking cybernetic suit, a cape of midnight flowing as his red saber hissed menacingly into life._

 _He saw a radiant, pure light born from darkness, and then… nothing._

Abruptly, the vision ended, and he found Obi Wan and Leia kneeling next to him where he had fallen from his seated position. "Are you alright Master Yoda?"

"Received a vision, I have Obi Wan. Make sense of it, I cannot. A man did I see, from a dangerous origin, he came. Wrapped in raging fire, was he. Radiated lightning and the Dark Side, the woman who stood behind him did. Then an executioner on a battlefield, there was. See his face, I could not. A yellow lightsaber, he wielded. Then an army of Sith, I saw. Led by one Master, they were. An incorruptible light, born from darkness was at the end. Then ended, my vision did."

"What do you think it means Master?" Leia inquired.

"Dark times ahead, there will be. Unknowable, the future is."

* * *

Luke's eyes shuddered open, and he was immediately aware of the absence of his lightsaber. It wasn't attached to his belt anymore. Finding his body slightly uncoordinated, he rose up off the bed of sorts he had been on and stretched out with the Force. Feeling an overwhelming sea of life, he stopped. He'd been too open to the life of the planet.

He seemed to be in some sort of primitive but well-built hut. Drapes that seemed like long, broad leaves covered the entrance. Making his way over, he parted them slightly.

Outside was several creatures, all looked very much the same but for different adornments they wore in a very tribal fashion. They wore luminous neon blue warpaint of some sort, the occasional yellow or red equivalent. He had never seen a species like this one, but then again there was only one fully sentient species, humans, on Zakuul. The only other lifeforms were partially or non-sentient.

One of them noticed him and gestured to him. It wanted him to come out. Judging by the sabre on its back, it was fully capable of combat. He'd better not risk provoking this unknown species until he had his lightsaber back.

He left the hut, and followed the one that gestured to him. It led him to the largest of the primitive buildings, and he was ushered in.

He didn't really know what to think.

Inside was a red and white skinned woman with montrals, wearing dark brown robes, a Togruta if he remembered his lesson on species with his mother right. She was meditating by the looks. At her left hip were two lightsabers, one of them his own. He could feel the subtle yearning of his weapon through the Force, it longed to be reunited with its master. Without warning, the weapon that had yet to see use came loose from the woman's belt, flying into his hand as he caught it on instinct. So this was the connection a Zakuulan lightsaber held with its creator!

"Your lightsaber is unlike any I have ever seen before. It physically reacts to your presence, and it would not activate away from it." The woman, clearly a Force wielder, commented.

Hesitantly, Luke hooked the weapon to his belt. He didn't answer.

The Togruta woman rose to her feet, standing. "My name is Shaak Ti."

"Mine's Luke." He finally spoke, revealing his name in return.

"I take it you have recovered from your ship's incident."

Physically, he was without a scratch. Spiritually, he'd had a brush with oblivion. He didn't know what had become of Arcann either, although his respect for his uncle was now gone. What the Eternal Executioner had done… was unforgivable.

" _Such is my son's jealous nature. Before he was humiliated by defeat, he knew no regard what he had done._ "

Valkorion's voice echoed in his head, and time seemed to stop, the world darkening in his perception, similar to the limbo he'd been in until recently. The visage of his grandfather appeared in a blue astral form beside Shaak Ti when he blinked.

" _This 'Shaak Ti' is genuine in her concern for you wellbeing, it is her nature. Unusual for her Order, but I suspect she is not the most_ orthodox _Jedi._ "

The Immortal Emperor vanished, and time resumed.

"Nothing permanent." Luke replied to her inquiry. "The shield device absorbed almost all of the blast, the rest was just blunt force."

* * *

Slowly, Arcann forced his eyes open. He remained under the singular light in the room where he had been when he'd last been conscious. Halfway into the operation, the agony had become too much, and he'd blacked out. The restraints were still around his limbs. A droid hovered in front of him, and noted his consciousness.

His own voice sounded foreign to him, but he recognised it when he spoke as the same one he'd had whilst locked behind his first mask, angry and tense.

"What did you do to me?"

The droid replied in a robotic monotone.

"The operation was successful. Your mask has been rebuilt to process air into pure oxygen to account for the deficiency in your lungs and trachea. The results are conclusive, the respirator has been tested and allows breathing in all environments."

A feeling he'd long suppressed ripped through him. Rage. Rage for the callousness of the droid. Rage for the lack of effort to fix his lungs. Rage that he was crippled and had not been treated. Rage that the only thing they did was slice into his body, rip out parts of his organs, replace them with _something_ , close him up and lock him in this armour once more. Even the Voss had done more for him when they cured his rage millennia ago!

His roar of fury resounded deafeningly in the darkened operating theatre. Roaring with deadly wrath, he lashed out through the Force. The droids were crushed, the walls buckled, raw, golden yellow lightning threw itself outward from him, electrifying the room, scorching the metal and decimating the droids. The entire medical facility shook with his pain, people falling to the ground, droids rocking in the air, the armour of the Knights outside crushing them to death, completely unbeknownst to him.

With a furious bellow, the former Emperor tore himself from the vertical operating table, and the ground trembled beneath him as he stood stronger than ever, throwing his head back and roaring within the mask that was now his prison.

And once more, the malevolent fire of the Dark Side burned in his eyes.

"You call this a **success?!** My lungs feel like they're being sheared aparted! My throat burns worse than the Dragon's Fire!" Arcann began to tremble with hatred for all of it. " **THIS IS NOT BREATHING! THIS IS NOT LIVING!** "

All around him, everything shattered. The droid before him, barely functioning, spoke.

"Without the respiratory function of the mask, you will suffocate and struggle to breathe at all."

An unrestrained blast of golden lightning eviscerated the droid. More golden voltage stormed across his body in a transparent aura of fury as he lowered his flesh hand. Calling his lightsaber back, he stalked through the corridors, heading directly for the Throne Room to do what he should have done 12 years ago while Vaylin was at her weakest.

Mere minutes later, the doors hissed open and he strode straight down the catwalk to the dais, seeing his immature and unworthy child of a sister on the Eternal Throne. With a snarl, he swept the lineup of Knights aside telekinetically.

"Get down here Vaylin!" He furiously challenged, igniting his lightsaber.

She rose, taking her own weapon in her hand.

"Arcann!" She hissed, punctuating his name with the hiss of her own yellow blade. "You forget your place!"

With a feral cry, she leapt through the air and brought her weapon crashing down on his with the force of her entire mass and gravity behind the blow. Masterfully redirecting the force, he sent her tumbling into a roll which she recovered from immediately. But he was already upon her, his yellow blade flashing at every possible angle to shatter her guard. He'd taught her well, but not so well that she could regain the offensive so easily.

A stream of lightning burst from her free hand, and he countered it with his own yellow electricity, forging it into a shield. A series of scorching sparks flew from the two blades, hissing in the air. Their blades flashed and blazed, bouncing off each other. But, no matter what she did to turn the tide, Vaylin could not best the Eternal Executioner's masterful saber style. He knew her every move before she did.

"Give me the Throne!" He demanded, forcing her blade down. It was an inch away from her throat.

"Argh!"

Vaylin pushed back, slashing and hacking, her now totally unrestrained emotions bleeding into her movements. Still he gave no ground, merely upped his game, parrying and dodging.

His rage boiled over, and with one brutally efficient spinning slash, he cut through the top half of her lightsaber, rendering it destroyed beyond repair. With his full strength he headbutted her, driving his now unarmed sister to the ground. He ruthlessly kicked her in the stomach and used the Force to fling her up. She landed in a heap at his feet. Reversing his grip on the hilt of his lightsaber, he held it in both hands and raised it above his head for a downward stab.

"And now I finish what the Outlander started!"

A desperate scream escaped her as he brought the weapon down. A torrent of serrated lightning blasted into his chest, flinging Arcann against the foot of the Eternal Throne.

He rose in fury as the dark voltage poured out upon him still, but he knew her downfall. He uttered the words through the scorching agony in his chest and throat, and she collapsed, powerless and at his whimsical mercy.

"Kneel before the Dragon of Zakuul!"


	8. The Dragon of Zakuul

Arcann rose again.

"I know all your weaknesses Vaylin." His voice softened in pity for a moment, then it hardened with his resolve. "Now yield the Throne!"

Vaylin screamed again. The sound was as horrific through his mask as he remembered it years ago, when the Outlander ran her through. He knew he was the cause of her pain this time. He had triggered her conditioning in anger, knowing full well what it did to her.

' _I suppose impulsive cruelty runs in the family._ '

"WHY?!" Vaylin screamed, clutching her chest, shaking in pain.

Arcann steeled himself. This was necessary.

"Because you are insane, and unfit to rule in any way. I love you Vaylin, but you are too dangerous to remain on the Throne. In two reigns over Zakuul, what have you done for the people? Nothing, nothing but make them fear and hate you. They don't pray for your health and continued reign, they pray for the day Luke takes the Eternal Throne. That boy is kind, just, compassionate, maybe a little arrogant in himself, he has time to outgrow that. But not in your care."

Vaylin's fiery eyes met his. Shock, anger and fear were in her eyes. But still he would not bend to her, never again.

"You would feed him lies, teach him to be as vicious as you, and make him just like you. I love that boy as if he were my own, I will **never** allow that to happen!" Arcann roared at the end.

"What's the saying of the common people? When a Dragonstorm is born the 7 Great Gods flip a coin for one of two paths, madness or greatness. Father had the madness. So did I. Thexan was destined for greatness, until I cut him down in my madness. You have the Dragonstorm madness too. I praise all the Gods that Luke didn't inherit the madness from you and I swore before the eyes of Izax to make sure he doesn't meet Thexan's fate on the path to greatness."

His sister seethed.

"You also swore… to serve me... and Luke… until your end of days. Or have you forgotten _brother?!_ "

"I remember that oath well." Arcann acknowledged her words. "You just can't see that Luke is better off without you."

"He's my son! My only child! I won't let you to take him from me!" Vaylin protested, hurling a torrent of purple lightning at him, but he was ready for her. He caught it on his lightsaber, allowing the weapon to absorb it.

"But he's not your only child, is he? Do you really have no love in your heart for the other children you banished to those who would take them?"

"A failure, a weakling and a disappointment!"

Bellowing in rage, Arcann hurled Vaylin's own lightning back at her, launching her against the door frame. His voice was laced with anger and regret.

"In the name of Valkorion of the House Dragonstorm, Immortal Emperor and Protector of the Eternal Empire, the Dragon of Zakuul, I declare you, Vaylin of Houses Dragonstorm and Tirall, unfit to rule the Eternal Empire. I strip you of your rank as sovereign ruler of Zakuul, your title of Eternal Empress, and I banish you from the Spire."

His sister was frozen in shock for a moment. But she quickly came back with more force than before, if only with words this time. "You can't do this. You have no power to do this!"

Arcann continued, ignoring her interruption.

"The Throne will be held by a regent of suitable rank until the Crown Prince, if alive, is found, returned to Zakuul and comes of age, or it will pass to the strongest claimant by relation. Your bastard children will be recalled from their exiles in the Houses of Tirall, Willsaam and Temple and and will become wards of the Throne. You will depart the Spire and never return, nor will you interfere with any of the Throne's directives. If you disregard this command, I will imprison you in solitude on Nathema."

"I'll cut your head off for all Zakuul to see!" Vaylin hissed, summoning the lightsaber of a Knight into her hand.

'Only to find all the other Knights suddenly wake and ignite their blades against her. Arcann's hand was in the air, raised like Valkorion when he summoned his godly power. He had not killed them, only knocked them out as a ruse, now he had revived them and they had chosen their side.

"I, Arcann of Houses Dragonstorm and Tirall, now assume the vacant post of High Justice, and will serve as regent until the Throne passes to a new sovereign." He declared. "Remove Lady Vaylin from the Spire."

Half of the Knights moved to take her, and when Vaylin raised the stolen lightsaber, Arcann acted.

"Kneel before the Dragon of Zakuul."

A debilitating pain wracked her body, and Vaylin fell to the floor again, curling up and crying in agony as he once again triggered her greatest weakness.

"Captain Zal, whenever she tries to resist, repeat those words and she will become powerless." Arcann ordered. India Zal bowed and seized her former Empress and took her away.

"As you command, High Justice."

As soon as Vaylin was gone, dragged kicking and screaming from the Throne Room, Arcann turned to the other Knight Captain.

"Captain Neddini, you will have the command. Dispatch a squad of Knights each to the Starfort, Truthtower and Temple Rock, retrieve the former Empress' bastard children from their fosters and bring them to me. You must do this with all haste, Vaylin will not stand for this perceived slight against her, and will move to abduct them before the Throne can take them into custody."

"I understand High Justice, all haste. Forgive my ignorance in asking…"

Arcann interrupted the Captain. "There's no need to ask forgiveness for finding yourself with questions Captain, I am not my sister. Ask whatever you will, but make it quick."

"Thank you, High Justice. Might I ask inquire as to what reason you have to make these baseborn children wards of the Throne?" The male Knight Captain asked.

"How many bastard children does my sister have?"

"Three, High Justice."

"Then I have six reasons to take them. Go, bring them to me."

* * *

Luke's lightsaber ignited with a hiss. The brilliant yellow blade lit up the dark of the evening, and dimmed a little as time froze, and Valkorion appeared beside him when he blinked.

" _You now possess a lightsaber, but make no mistake my grandson, it is just as lethal to you as your enemies if you fool about with it._ "

"The Knights, the Horizon Guard, Arcann. They made it look so effortless to me before I started the Academy." Luke mused in agreement. "Izax, Arcann had such mastery, such grace and skill when I saw him fight."

" _Arcann is arguably the finest swordsman in the Eternal Empire, I will deign to admit that much. But a master swordsman does not an Emperor make. For all his mastery of the lightsaber, and of combat in itself, my disgraced son is woefully lacking in the qualities of an Emperor. He has a good mind for war, and he is an excellent battle commander, but a ruler? No, he was far from a good ruler, in times of war or peace. When you ascend to the Eternal Throne one day, what kind of Emperor do you think you will be?_ "

Luke shut down his lightsaber and committed his focus to his grandfather. He thought about it. He would like to be fair, and just. Loved by the people, but not to be trifled with. A strong protector and a fair ruler. He gave a questioning, unsure answer.

"A good Emperor?"

Valkorion's mouth twitched, slightly resembling a smile. " _I believe you will be. You have the right mind for it. But what makes a good Emperor?_ "

Luke replied with the first thought to come into his head.

"Doing what's best for his people?"

" _Interesting. Corin the First, the fifth emperor of the Outlander's bloodline, did what he thought was best for his people. He reorganised the government and enforced transparency to the people."_ His grandfather informed him. " _He also spent his life erasing Zakuul from the histories of every planet in the galaxy, retreating the Eternal Empire into Wild Space and set the Eternal Fleet to deter any exploration into the territories he controlled, shrinking the Eternal Empire to just 3 worlds._ "

Luke tried again, thinking a little more this time. "Being decisive?"

Valkorion crossed to stand opposite him, then answered, speaking as softly as ever.

" _Yes. A good Emperor must be decisive. Othrys Outlander was decisive. He never wavered in making a decision, and his commands were never uncertain. He never stopped to question his choice when he decapitated the Lord of House Jorgan and hung his head above the door of the Throne Room for catching the Cathar man bedding his sister when she wasn't even betrothed to him and he was married. He never took his decision back. Even when his own brother, who was married the late Lord Jorgan's daughter, cut his head off in retribution and gave the Throne to their youngest brother. Do you think Othrys should have been a little less decisive?_ "

"I guess so." The Crown Prince mentally kicked himself for getting it wrong twice. "What about power?"

Valkorion nodded in a strange way.

" _Indeed_ _ **.**_ _Your mother Vaylin is possibly the most powerful ruler Zakuul has ever had after myself. She also murdered men and women for questioning her, bombarded a dozen highly populated planets to ash with the Eternal Fleet and hunted her own mother and brother halfway across the galaxy for months to slaughter them, unsuccessfully. She spent her first reign acting like a spoilt, murderous child until it got her killed, and her second violating the laws of nature and favouring one child above the rest for being 'perfect' and obedient._ "

Luke was taken aback by his grandfather's horrific description of his mother, but the ancient force entity wasn't phased. He continued the lesson without pause.

" _A man who cripples his own empire, a man who provokes his brother to behead him with a single word from his wife, and a woman who believes being powerful and ruling are the same thing. What is each one without? What one quality are they all woefully lacking?_ "

For all his thoughts, Luke had no idea what his grandfather wanted him to answer with. Crippling one's own empire, killing a man without listening to all sides of the story, and thinking power equated to being a ruler. There wasn't really any sense in any of those legacies, no wisdom at all. Wait a minute… no wisdom… maybe that was the right answer?

"None of them sound very wise when you put it like that." He said, hating that he included his own mother in that statement.

Finally Valkorion nodded firmly. " _Precisely. They lack wisdom. Do you know what wisdom is grandson?_ "

Luke shook his head.

"I had it at not being an idiot last time I thought about it to be honest."

" _A crude and ill fitting definition._ " Valkorion admonished. " _Banish it from your mind and try not to be so narrow-minded, such behaviour is unbefitting of a future Emperor._ "

"Sorry grandfather." The blonde Prince apologised quietly.

" _So long as you learn from your mistake, all is forgiven. Back to the subject of wisdom. You are Emperor of Zakuul, and a planet with fertile lands and vast resources seeks your protection from another world with a strong military force and ships trying to claim those resources that could, one day, oppose you, but also seeks your favour. How do you know which choice is wise and which isn't?_ "

In all honesty, Luke had no idea what would be wise in that situation. Resources and and supplies were useful for a battle of attrition, but more soldiers meant a stronger military.

"I'm not sure. I don't really know." He admitted.

" _And nor would I expect you to. You have no knowledge farmer's fields and the uses of resources, nor command of soldiers and starships._ " The Immortal Emperor laid his hand in Luke's back, a gesture he found reassuring despite the limited corporeality of his grandfather's form. " _A wise Emperor is aware of the limits of his knowledge, and the value of council. A wise Emperor heeds the advice of his elders who know of what they speak until he is experienced. The wisest Emperors continue to heed them even when they think they know better._ "

The Crown Prince of Zakuul found himself silent. There weren't many people who could halt his thoughts. It wasn't of much consequence, as he was set back to his original purpose of being here.

" _A wise Emperor also knows the value of martial power. Keep my words in mind, we will speak again soon grandson._ "

The world returned to full brightness and time resumed. Luke reignited his lightsaber. Time to get used to his new weapon. It was wholly different to the wooden training staves he'd used his whole life. It was slightly heavier, the centre of gravity was different, and he'd give himself burning cuts with the slightest graze. All things he'd been told of prior to landing on Novurn and entering the Dragon's Forge.

He twirled the weapon experimentally, feeling the hum of the plasma blade as he moved it about. The turbulence of the lightsaber's beam. The lack of resistance compared to a wooden stave. The untapped power it possessed.

A fierce grin lit Luke's face. This was going to be fun.

* * *

"Rylana Star, come with us. Lord Tirall requires your presence in the Great Hall."

Rylana opened her eyes, blazing red infernos trapped behind her cornea, and turned from her view of the stars to face the captain of the House Tirall household guard. If Sandor Tirall had sent Vok _and_ four guards then this was serious. She nodded her assent and followed on.

Vok led her through the corridors of the Starfort and their small party soon reached their destination. She didn't like what she found when the doors slid open.

High Empress Vaylin sat in the Lord's seat, Lord Tirall to her left. The entire Horizon Guard was there too, posted at ceremonial points around the room's interior. 12 around the perimeter of the room, 7 on the stairs of the raised platform and the Lord Commander at the Empress' right hand. By Izax, this had to be the worst day of her week so far.

Nevertheless, she obeyed social decorum and gave a slightly exaggerated bow instead of a curtsey and a sarcastic tone to her greeting as her small defiance.

"High Empress."

Seeing the telltale signs of annoyance on Vaylin's face, Rylana smirked slightly. Here, Vaylin couldn't raise a hand to her for insolence, only actual violations of Zakuulan Law could warrant corporeal action. She couldn't be electrocuted this time, unlike all the other times she'd been 'disobedient'.

"Rylana, you will come with me, pack your things, say your goodbyes, we fly for Dark Respite within the hour."

The 11 year old girl glanced around. No sign of Luke. Vaylin never left him in the capital alone. She never went anywhere on Zakuul without him in her presence. The Horizon Guard positioned around the walls of room, all exits covered, 7 between her and Vaylin, and the Lord Commander at her side. Almost as if the Empress required separation from her... or planned to take her by force. It certainly seemed the case, judging by how the Horizon Guard had their hands at their lightsabers.

Subtly, Rylana reached out with her senses through the Force. Vaylin's personal guard was ready to forcibly subdue her at a moment's notice. Vaylin herself was… severely agitated.

"Where's Luke?" She asked, ignoring Vaylin's command.

Vaylin's voice was strained with the pressure of remaining civil. "Get your things and say goodbyes, _now_."

Rylana cocked her head, shifting slightly. She wouldn't be so easily corralled into a cage like last time. The Horizon Guard would have to do a lot more than strike her over the head with a lightsaber pike this time to take her.

"Why come here yourself? At most you'd send some Knights or Arcann…" She caught the violent flare in Vaylin's emotions at her brother's name. "Unless neither obey you any longer."

"Take her!" Vaylin demanded, and the 7 Horizon Guards between them moved for her.

Never again!

A lightsaber flew from one of the Tirall guards into her hand, and Rylana ignited it into the first Horizon Guard's throat. The emerald blade ripped through his neck and out the back effortlessly. And Rylana ripped off his helmet with the Force to stare into his eyes, taking every moment of his death to remember and reflect on in later life, her first kill.

Then she ripped the green plasma blade, ironically being the exact colour that she would have wielded as a bastard if permitted one of her own, from his throat and let him crash to the floor, dead. Cries of "Treason!" and "little animal!" filled the Great Hall, but she was used to hearing such things from these people. She didn't care anymore, she'd outgrown their ignorance a long time ago. She assumed her Form II stance and relished the fight she'd been awaiting for three years.

The next one rushed at her with a heavy overhead strike aimed at her stolen lightsaber, but she surged forwards, making him step into his own bisection. Carrying the swinging motion through, the 11 year old caught a red blade a foot from her neck and spun around the woman, decapitating her cleanly.

A telekinetic blast to her hand disarmed her, and Rylana was left facing 4 Horizon Guards unarmed. But not beaten. Calling the Dark Side of the Force that came so naturally, she compressed the energy inside herself, then unleashed it.

A massive, repulsing wave of visible purple energy hurled the four members of the Horizon Guard in the walls, killing them with the blunt force of the impact. The green lightsaber leapt from the floor into her hand, and the violent girl charged at the Lord's platform. The Lord Commander of the Horizon Guard ignited his lightsaber and rushed to meet her.

Rylana smirked.

From her left hand came a riptide of serrated purple lightning. It launched the Lord Commander into the glass of the massive window behind the Lord's seat, and, entirely shrugging off Vaylin's hasty Force Grip, Rylana tackled the stunned man through the glass, shattering it beneath their combined weight, leaving the two free falling from the Starfort's highest tower.


End file.
